Boston Brass members include, from left, Jose Sibaja, J.D. Shaw, Andrew Hitz, Lance LaDuke and Jeff Conner. The band returns to Lawrence for “A Stan Kenton Christmas.”

Stan Kenton

If Boston Brass had a sign on its clubhouse, it would probably read “No woodwinds allowed.”

For 22 years, the quintet has embraced its “brassiness,” crafting intricate and entertaining spins on jazz and classical compositions — all with just two trumpets, French horn, trombone and tuba.

Trumpeter Jeff Conner, the lone remaining founding member of the act, claims he can usually spot other brass players in a crowd.

“There are different personalities that tend to go to different instruments,” Conner says. “For instance, there is a confidence among trumpet players. We’re very competitive, which is a good thing.”

Conner joins fellow trumpet player Jose Sibaja in Boston Brass, a group that also features J.D. Shaw on French horn, Lance LaDuke on trombone and Andrew Hitz on tuba.

“I’ve played second trumpet my whole career, and I’m proud of it. I’ve gotten a chance to play with some great first players in the band,” the Boston-area native says.

“My job is to make Jose’s job easier. If I’m doing my job, then he’s going to sound even better. I’m always trying to match what he’s doing: timing, intonation, playing the same articulations.”

Although Conner has established a career as the second trumpet during his decades with Boston Brass, he has never played second fiddle. The veteran musician has helped guide the band into becoming one of the most prolific and pre-eminent brass jazz quintets in the world.

And come Christmastime, they get even bigger.

On Saturday at the Lied Center, the group will be expanded by nine other musicians to perform as Boston Brass and the Brass All-Stars Big Band. The ensemble will be presenting selections by Wichita jazz legend Stan Kenton, mainly taken from his classic 1961 album “A Merry Christmas.”

“There is a lot of great holiday music, both in the sacred tradition and secular. But these Kenton carols are fantastic,” says the 45-year-old Conner. “The arrangements are so distinctive. There was a signature sound that the Kenton band had. … As soon as you hear it, you know it’s Stan Kenton.”

Kenton chronicle

Though Kenton (1911-1979) may be one of the most famous jazz musicians to hail from Kansas, he was a figure that attracted controversy among his peers.

“Kenton’s status in the jazz world is ambiguous,” says Kansas University professor Chuck Berg, a jazz aficionado and critic.

“Kenton’s ever-expanding ‘orchestras’ (including his 1965 23-piece Los Angeles Neophonic Orchestra), in spite of a large and loyal fan base, were generally dismissed by the critics who judged Kenton’s work as portentous and bombastic. I’m not sure that it’s a completely fair assessment in that those critical judgments were to a degree tinged by the period’s polarizing racial-cultural politics which, to oversimplify, valorized black jazz as authentic and white jazz as derivative — if not an out-and-out rip-off.”

That said, Berg considers Kenton’s holiday arrangements significant.

“Kenton’s tribute to Christmas, like most of his work, is brassy and bold,” Berg says. “Against the volleys of trumpets and trombones, one is also treated to vibrant, bluesy contrasts from the saxophone section (often doubling on flutes and clarinets). As a result, an evergreen getting the Kenton treatment offers engaging contrasts, some rising with a clatter, some shaking like bowls of jelly.”

Signature sound

Kenton’s tunes aren’t the only connection to Kansas shared by Boston Brass.

The East Coast outfit is led by J.D. Shaw, a Hutchinson native and Wichita State University graduate. The 13-year member handles all the arranging for the ensemble.

“Our branding is our arrangements,” Conner says of what distinguishes his act from other brass bands. “J.D. has given us our signature sound. Also, we do our whole program from memory. In the show you get the sense of everybody’s personality.”

For the Lied Center concert, titled “A Stan Kenton Christmas,” the group adds auxiliary horn section members, drums, percussion and piano.

“They’re great players, but they’re also great chamber musicians,” Conner says of the Brass All-Stars Big Band. “Everyone is just dialed in to what everyone’s doing.”

December gift

“We’ve been very fortunate to identify shows for the holidays that are of interest to the community,” says Tim Van Leer, executive director of the Lied Center.

Although Van Leer has not seen Boston Brass perform live, he says, “Conversations with my colleagues who have presented them and listening to their ‘Stan Kenton (Christmas Carols)’ album convinced me to present them.”

This marks the fourth year that Boston Brass has delivered the Kenton program in December.

“Whether we’re doing a concert where you have 10 people in the crowd or a thousand people, we’re going to have a good time,” Conner says. “The audience will definitely leave in a holiday spirit.”