Review: A SWINGING BIRDLAND CHRISTMAS at Birdland Is Holiday Glee Galore

A big part about Christmas is traditions.  One tradition in New York City, for 15 –count ‘em, 15— years, is the high-spirited, feel-good, song-filled holiday happening called A Swinging Birdland Christmas.  Together and separately, jolly Jim Caruso, bubbly Billy Stritch, and kinetic Klea Blackhurst sing with flair and a down-to-earth air, with Mr. Stritch doubling as pianist, joined by bass player Steve Doyle and Daniel Glass on drums.  Bonhomie is much in evidence at every turn. The Birdland stage on West 44th Street is home turf to all these pros; the men have logged countless hours there for shows and the Cast Party weekly open mic night that has made Monday “fun day” for more than two decades. And Ms. Blackhurst has done her own shows there, too.  I caught the zesty opening night (Sunday, December 22) of this year’s run, which has two performances tonight on the 23rd (one is livestreamed), and one each on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (both of those are at 5:30 pm). Tickets are available on Birdland's website. It’s a pleasingly playful plethora of pep and pop.  

As you might guess from the Swinging title, the description above, and the reputations of these artists, this is not a Christmas show that allows more than a cameo appearance of the religious origins of the holiday. You won’t hear these three entertainers entertaining thoughts about Bethlehem’s Three Wise Men, but you’ll hear the singers making wisecracks. Nothing like “O Come, All Ye Faithful” is intoned, but the faithful fans come year after year.  The closest we get to “Carol of the Bells” are jazzy variations on “Jingle Bells” that may have a familiar ring.  However, we do get a radiantly reverent reprieve from the frivolity as the exquisite piano version of “Silent Night” is followed by (and woven into) Klea Blackhurst’s delicate vocal of “A Child Is Born,” referring, of course, to the baby with the same initials as their castmate Jim Caruso.    

The treatments and mood are otherwise, like the weather, breezy. However, unlike the precipitation that may come along, the set list of this annual Yuletide shindig is not frozen. Two new additions for this edition recalled their recent appearances at Carnegie Hall in group concerts honoring Stephen Sondheim’s score for Follies and Barry Manilow, respectively, Klea Blackhurst and Jim Caruso delightfully reprised the adorable “Rain on the Roof” and Billy Stritch offered a conversationally comforting “It’s Just Another New Year’s Eve” (co-written by Manilow and Marty Panzer).  “Holly Jolly Christmas” was the cheerful choice when bass player Steve Doyle took the singing spotlight and drummer Daniel Glass added slick drumstick work.  

I welcome the new additions and was more than happy to hear the standbys again. I knew pretty much what to expect since I’ve attended this Birdland bash in the past and have had my memories refreshed via the two CD recordings. While the mood is the same (these folks truly put the “merry” in Christmas) and songs are often “so lively and quick” (to borrow the description of Santa Claus in the poem about the night before Christmas), such as “It Happened in Sun Valley,” a fleet tour of shopping malls (a lyric set to the bouncy melody that was the theme from TV’s “American Bandstand”), and the cute number about the Hawaiian holiday greeting, “Mele Kalikimaka.”

 With A Swinging Birdland Christmas, it’s impossible not to smile.

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Learn more about the performers on their websites: www.kleablackhurst.com, www.jim-caruso.com and billystritch.com

See www.birdlandjazz.com for more upcoming shows at Birdland Jazz Club.

Lead photo courtesy of Birdland. Other photos by Kevin Alvey  

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