If jolly Old St. Nick weren’t jolly before, he surely would have been had he stopped into Birdland the evenings through Christmas. Throughout the week, Billy Stritch, Klea Blackhurst and Jim Caruso joined their talents to present a mostly upbeat program of holiday songs and banter titled A Swinging Birdland Christmas.

The evening opened quietly with an electric guitar solo of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” played by John Hart, who then, throughout the evening, was joined by Paul Gill on bass, Carmen Intorri on drums and Billy as pianist to serve as backbone of the music and keep it moving at a brisk pace.

But it was the three singers center stage whose talents provided the holiday sparkle. Stritch and Caruso, Texas-born buddies, were in top form, as Stritch’s musical arrangements and piano work provided spine for the evening’s songs, and Caruso’s comic takes, in between his own warm singing, provided spice. The happy surprise of the evening was Blackhurst, known earlier throughout cabaret for her channeling of Ethel Merman’s style and trumpet voice, but, for the Birdland show, displaying her talents as a fine singer of jazz and ballads. She shone as she joined the gentlemen on such numbers as “The Christmas Waltz,” “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” and “Pine Cones and Holly Berries.” However, the comic Blackhurst re-emerged as she pulled out a miniature trumpet to sing and play the faux lament, “I Took My Horn to a Party.”

A more traditional Christmas mood returned as the trio finished the evening warmly performing “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” “Winter Wonderland,” “Silent Night” and “A Child Is Born.”  Encore, with the audience joining in: “White Christmas.”

This year’s Swinging Birdland Christmas was its second annual engagement. The show promises to become a merry tradition, a grand way to get into the holiday spirit. You can line up now for 2012.

Peter Haas
Cabaret Scenes
December 20, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org