Karen Akers to Present ABOUT TIME at Birdland in April

BIRDLAND JAZZ CLUB will present award-winning vocalist Karen Akers, who returns to the venue with the special evening "About Time," on Monday, April 24 at 7:00 PM. Returning to Birdland after two sold-out performances last year, Akers once again takes a look back at some of the songs that first brought her attention in cabaret as well as on Broadway, television, and recordings: works by Craig Carnelia, Maury Yeston, Edith Piaf, and Stephen Sondheim, among other treasures. The show features musical director Alex Rybeck. There is a $40 music charge. Birdland is located at 315 West 44th Street in New York.

Karen Akers, one of America's more arresting and successful concert and cabaret stars, is the recipient of the 2005 New York Nightlife Award for Outstanding Female Cabaret Vocalist in a Major Engagement, as well as the 2009 Nightlife Legend Award. Ms. Akers has appeared in venues worldwide, including Carnegie Hall and The Hollywood Bowl, as well as New York's premiere nightspots, the Cafe Carlyle and The Oak Room at The Algonquin Hotel. She has taken her music to the south of France, Russia, Barcelona's Liceu Opera House and more recently, to The Crazy Coqs in London.

Concert performances are only a part of Ms. Akers multifaceted career, which encompasses theatre, television, film, and recordings. She appeared at the Martin Beck Theatre on Broadway as one of the original stars of the Tony Award-winning musical Grand Hotel, directed by Tommy Tune. She made her Broadway debut in the original production of Nine, also directed by Tommy Tune, receiving a Tony nomination. Ms. Akers television appearances include "Cheers," "The Tonight Show," "Hart to Hart," "The Merv Griffin Show" and the PBS Specials: "Ellington: The Music Lives On" and "Ira Gershwin at 100: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall." In addition, her own PBS specials are "Presenting Karen Akers" and "On Stage at Wolf Trap." Her film roles include the femme fatale in Mike Nichols' Heartburn, opposite Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep; Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo; and Vibes.

BIRDLAND JAZZ CLUB will present Karen Akers in "About Time" on Monday, April 24 at 7:00 PM. There is a $40 music charge and a $20 food and beverage minimum. Birdland is located at 315 West 44th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues) in Manhattan. For reservations, please call (212) 581-3080 or visit www.BirdlandJazz.com.

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UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS AT

BIRDLAND THEATER AND BIRDLAND JAZZ CLUB

Every Monday at 9:30 PM - Birdland Jazz Club

Jim Caruso's Cast Party

"Jim Caruso's Cast Party," a New York institution for almost two decades, is a wildly popular weekly open mic night/variety show that has brought a sprinkling of Broadway glitz and urbane wit to Birdland since 2004. Called "show-business heaven" by The New York Times and "the gold-standard of open mic nights" by The Wall Street Journal, "Cast Party" will take advantage of the city's post-pandemic nightlife renaissance to keep presenting a potent mix of Broadway stars, jazz swingers and cabaret legends, in addition to new faces and rising talent from every genre. The buoyant, sharp and charming Caruso guides the entire affair, while musical genius Billy Stritch (Liza Minnelli, Tony Bennett) holds court at the ivories and leads the Cast Party Symphony Orchestra (Steve Doyle on bass and Daniel Glass on drums).

$30 + $20 food/drink minimum

Every Tuesday at 8:30 PM - Birdland Theater

The Lineup with Susie Mosher

"The Lineup with Susie Mosher" is a wild, anything-goes variety show featuring entertainers from the Broadway, cabaret and comedy scenes, ranging from today's hottest headliners to the best up-and-coming stars of tomorrow. Mosher - the noted actress and singer from Broadway and beyond, called "one of those talents you need to see to believe" by Time Out New York - hosts the spontaneous extravaganza every Tuesday, and each Lineup is unique and promises to deliver an unforgettable night of quintessential New York City entertainment.

$20 + $20 food/drink minimum

Every Saturday at 5:30 PM - Birdland Jazz Club

Eric Comstock & Barbara Fasano

Hailed as "the truest heir to Bobby Short" in The New York Times, pianist/singer Eric Comstock returns to Birdland with star bassist/composer Sean Smith with songs by everyone from George Gershwin to George Harrison. These two masters met on the Off-Broadway hit Our Sinatra (which Eric co-wrote) and have since worked separately and together around the world. Vocalist Barbara Fasano joins them at Birdland for a swinging Saturday supper where the music and stories are equally great. Sean Smith has been an integral part of the international jazz scene for over 25 years, and has performed with Gerry Mulligan, Phil Woods, Benny Carter, Art Farmer, Flip Phillips, Clark Terry and many others. Barbara Fasano has been praised as "a gorgeous, soulful singer who has an actor's intensity in whatever she sings" by The New York Post and "a lyrically sensitive interpreter" by The New York Times. Her latest album Busy Being Free is the recipient of the MAC Award for "Major Recording of the Year."

$30 + $20 food/drink minimum

March 27 (Monday) 7:00 PM - Birdland Jazz Club

The Jason Yeager Septet - "Unstuck in Time: the Kurt Vonnegut Suite"

with guests Miguel Zenón and Julie Benko

Following his Birdland bandleader debut with Broadway singer-actress Julie Benko, Jason Yeager returns to the storied club fronting his own seven-piece

ensemble. This time, Yeager & Co. celebrate the release of his seventh recording, "Unstuck in Time: The Kurt Vonnegut Suite" (SunnysideRecords). Launched on the occasion of Kurt Vonnegut's centennial, Yeager's colorful and exuberant suite employs novel approaches to integrate literature with instrumental music, dialoguing with the late master of American Letters through musical onomatopoeia, text painting, and imagined scene scoring. Featuring Yeager's adventurous and lyrical writing, ranging from straight-ahead to Latin and modern jazz, the album features some of today's most dynamic improviser-performers, including Miguel Zenón, Lucas Pino, Yuhan Su, Jay Sawyer, and Alphonso Horne, among others. In his fall preview for WRTI, noted jazz writer and former New York Times critic Nate Chinen calls Jason's new album "a spirited tribute that engages in sneaky ways with the form of Vonnegut's texts."

$35 tables / $35 bar seating + $20 food/drink minimum

March 27 (Monday) 8:30 PM - Birdland Theater

Jason Kravits - "Off the Top!"

Kravits returns to Birdland with "Off the Top!" after several sold-out shows over the last few years. Whether you recognize him from Broadway (The Drowsy Chaperone, Relatively Speaking) or TV ("Halston," "The Undoing," "Dr. Death," "B Positive," "Search Party"), you've never seen Jason Kravits quite like this. In a performance London's Reviewsgate calls "a five-star masterclass in the art of improv," Jason invents an entire cabaret, from scratch, right before your eyes. Every song, every lyric, every show-biz anecdote, humblebrag and overshare... made up, on the spot, based on your suggestions. Backed by the most daring band in the business, and featuring very special guests, Jason creates a solo, improvised musical-comedy high wire act you must see to believe.

$30 tables / $30 bar seating + $10 food/drink minimum

April 6-8 (Thursday-Saturday) 7:00 PM & 9:30 PM - Birdland Jazz Club

Rickie Lee Jones - "Pieces of Treasure"

An exclusive six-show engagement from Rickie Lee Jones will preview her upcoming album Pieces of Treasure. Rickie Lee will be backed by Rob Mounsey on piano, guitarist Russell Malone, bassist Paul Nowinski and drummer Mark McLean. A livestream option is for Friday, April 7 at 7:00 PM. Pieces of Treasure is a reunion with her lifelong friend, legendary producer Russ Titelman, co-producer of Jones' star-making debut and Pirates. Throughout her career, the Grammy-winning singer songwriter has interpreted an extraordinarily wide range of songs and has recorded celebrated jazz-leaning albums including Girl at Her Volcano and Pop Pop, but until now, she had never devoted an entire album to the American Songbook. "This album is as much about being human, the view of surviving - which means aging, and loving relentlessly - as it is about anything," says Jones. Pieces of Treasure will be out April 28 on BMG Modern Recordings. The first single "Just in Time" features Mike Mainieri on vibraphone. Her acclaimed memoir Last Chance Texaco is out now.

$80-100 tables / $50 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

April 10 (Monday) 8:30 PM - Birdland Theater

The Kinsey Sicks

For over 25 years, America's Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet has served up a feast of music and comedy to audiences at performing arts centers, music venues, and comedy festivals in every kind of town you can imagine! Their award-winning a cappella singing, sharp satire, and over-the-top drag have earned The Kinsey Sicks a diverse and devoted following. They have been called "inventive, riotously and sublime" by Variety.

$40 tables + $20 food/drink minimum

April 17 (Monday) 7:00 PM - Birdland Jazz Club

Anita Gillette & Penny Fuller - "Sin Twisters: The Next Frontier"

Two of Broadway's most beloved performers, Anita Gillette and Penny Fuller, take the stage at for their latest song and story compilation: "Sin Twisters: The Next Frontier." These two glorious veterans of stage and screen share stories about shows they've done (or might have done) as well as highlight the Broadway songwriters they have worked with, including Irving Berlin, Strouse & Adams, Kander & Ebb, and William Finn. Musical director Paul Greenwood is at the keyboard and director Barry Kleinbort is at the helm. Anita Gillette has played Birdland, 54 Below, and London's St. James Studio. Probably best known as Miss Mona in Moonstruck, or Miss Mitzi in Shall We Dance?, her other feature films include: The Fitzgerald Family Christmas, Boys on the Side, She's the One, Bob Roberts, and The Great New Wonderful. She starred in fourteen Broadway shows including: Chapter Two (Tony Nomination, LA Drama Critics Award), Cabaret (Sally Bowles), Carnival, Gypsy, Guys & Dolls, All American, They're Playing Our Song, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and Mr. President. She was Tina Fey's mother on "30 Rock." Penny Fuller was recently seen on Broadway in the acclaimed revival of Sunday in the Park with George. She began her Broadway career starring in Barefoot in the Park, and the musicals Cabaret, Rex, and Applause (Tony nomination for "Eve Harrington"). Her television work garnered her six Emmy nominations and the Emmy Award for ABC's "The Elephant Man." Recent Broadway credits include Horton Foote's Dividing the Estate and Neil Simon's The Dinner Party (Tony nomination).

$40 tables / $40 bar seating + $10 food/drink minimum

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