Review: A SWINGING BIRDLAND CHRISTMAS is just that at Birdland

This close to the big day, you might already be flagging in your enthusiasm for the traditional old songs and carols attached to the upcoming holiday. Have no fear! There is an alternative. Birdland's 12th iteration of A Swinging Birdland Christmas will reinvigorate that waning spirit. The trio of Klea Blackhurst, Billy Stritch, and Jim Caruso, along with Steve Doyle on bass and Daniel Glass on drums, takes us on a bouncing ride through many tunes, most of which we layfolk won't know by rote. That's what makes this an extraordinary holiday offering. Eventually, we learn the reasons for quite a few song choices in this presentation... from movie musicals, and the nostalgia for the TV Christmas specials of the 60s and 70s such as Andy Williams, The Osmonds, Cher. It is an aesthetic that is completely authentic to the artists on the stage, Misters Caruso and Stritch, and Ms. Blackhurst.

From the very first number, Christmas is Starting Now, you will be assured that this is not your Grandma's old-fashioned Christmas pageant. Put on your seat belt; you are in for a swinging evening. We are drawn in early by I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm, a tune we all feel we recognize, sung by the three singers picking up different lines in rapid succession; I muse as to how they each know when it is their turn, their line. The answer: they don't always. A Swinging Birdland Christmas is casual laughter with real people having true fun, like gathering around the piano with friends at a yuletide fête, and hosted, as always, by the incomparable and comfortable Jim Caruso. This is when the audience knows the evening is all about good holiday cheer. Then, when Ms. Blackhurst and Mr. Stritch partner sweetly on The Christmas Waltz, intertwining their voices in those yummy jazz harmonies, we know we are in the presence of gifted jazz musicians.

The early evening (5:30 pm start) mixes nuggets of frivolity, exemplified by Stuck in the Chimney (Cy Coleman and Floyd Huddleston) and We're Going Shopping, with downy moments of tenderness, demonstrated by Billy Stritch and his buttery-voiced Old Days, Old Times, and Klea Blackhurst's sublime A Child is Born. In a bit of a surprise move, we get to hear from Steve Doyle coming down front and center, upright bass in tow, to sing (yes, sing) Holly Jolly Christmas, dovetailing into Daniel Glass and his drumsticks as they join Doyle on the strings of the aforementioned musical instrument in a rendition of Little Drummer Boy. A true bonbon for this New Yorker was Mr. Stritch's gift of Manhattan in December written by the indomitable Ann Hampton Callaway.

The trio, having listened to at least 30 different versions, decided they would mash up about 10 different arrangements of Jingle Bells, and that fervor was a great way to wrap up the festivities. But after the final bow is taken, we have no reason to feel as though it's all over. This delightful feast of gaiety is available to all takers each evening through (and including) the 25th of December and many (almost all) of the pieces that charmed us are available on the Christmas at Birdland CD/download.

For the calendar of events at Birdland, click HERE

Visit the Klea Blackhurst website HERE.

THIS is the Jim Caruso website.

Billy Stritch can be found online HERE.

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