Klea Blackhurst, Jim Caruso, Billy Stritch: A Swinging Birdland Christmas, 2024

Post author:Jacqueline Parker
Post published:January 2, 2025
Reading time:3 mins read

Klea Blackhurst, Jim Caruso, Billy Stritch

A Swinging Birdland Christmas, 2024

Birdland NYC December 22, 2024

Reviewed by Jacqueline Parker

Jim Caruso, Klea Blackhurst, Billy Stritch

In an annual Christmas celebration that has become a tradition, Klea Blackhurst, Jim Caruso, and Billy Stritch (who also played piano) presented a cavalcade of holiday music designed to eradicate any Grinchiness that might have been lurking in a dark corner. They boldly began this rousing evening by declaring “Christmas is starting now” with an authority that could not be challenged. This show has been a December staple at Birdland for over a decade, and it’s easy to understand why the audiences are loyal. Stritch continued the theme with “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” and Blackhurst chimed in with her signature stentorian voice on Jerry Herman’s “We Need a Little Christmas.” They all performed with the infectious enthusiasm of children awaiting Santa’s arrival. Caruso added a few comic touches with “Just What I Wanted for Christmas,” which included a list that mentioned doe-skin spats from Neiman Marcus. Blackhurst played the bells while she sang about Old St. Nick, and drummer Daniel Glass and bassist Steve Doyle performed an unusual and only-seen-at-Birdland rendition of “The Little Drummer Boy.”

Blackhurst’s version of “A Child Is Born” has always been a highlight, particularly for any mother in the audience. She imbued the song with a sense of wonder and gratitude that made it an homage not only to the Christ child but to every mother’s child. The trio even paid tribute to their Honolulu-born drummer with “Mele Kalikimaka,” which was popularized by Bing Crosby and here included Blackhurst’s accompaniment on the ukelele. Novelties like this one and another about the horrors of shopping in a mall—”Discount Boogie”—were mixed in with the traditional holiday tunes to keep the show fresh and ever-surprising.

Stritch talked about how his admiration for Barry Manilow grew from fan to friendship and then performed Manilow and Marty Panzer’s “It’s Just Another New Year’s Eve.” For a change of pace, Blackhurst and Caruso reprised “Rain on the Roof” (Sondheim), which they had recently performed at the Follies concert at Carnegie Hall.

The evening ended with Kay Thompson’s version of “Jingle Bells?”—made famous by Barbra Streisand—sung by the trio, followed by a mashup of the same song, leaving no doubt that indeed it had been arranged more than 700 times! This show was like an old-fashioned variety show, the kind we watched with our parents when we were first learning about quality entertainment from the likes of The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday evenings.

This show returns to Birdland every year because it’s so damn good! Each year, it has a tweak here, a revision there, and it always delivers entertainment that puts you on track for holiday festivities. These three top-flight entertainers have never failed to pack the house each December. Make your resolution now to catch them in 2025.

Tags: Daniel Glass, A Swinging Birdland Christmas, CD, It’s Just Another New Year’s Eve, composer, Klea Blackhurst, drummer, Carnegie Hall, Rain on the Roof, The Ed Sullivan Show, Jerry Herman, Jacqueline Parker, Singer, Great American Songbook, Marty Panzer, Jim Caruso, Jingle Bells, Sondheim, Little Drummer Boy, Nightclubs, he Most Wonderful Time of the Year, We Need a Little Christmas, Broadway, Santa, Musicals, Just What I Wanted for Christmas, Mele Kalikimaka, Cabaret, Discount Boogie, Follies, Neiman Marcus, Cabaret Reviews, Broadway Musicals, American Songbook Association, Christmas, Old St. Nick, CD Reviews, ASA, Lyricist, bassist Steve Doyle, Barry Manilow, Billy Stritch, Key words American Songbook, songwriter, Christ child, Clubs, Barbra Streisand, A Child Is Born, Vocalists, ukelele, Cabaret Scenes, Kay Thompson

Jacqueline Parker

Like Ethel Merman, lifelong New Yorker Jacqueline Parker began her career as a stenographer. She spent more than two decades at the city's premier public agency, progressing through positions of increased responsibility after earning her BA in English from New York University (3.5 GPA/Dean’s List). She won national awards for her work in public relations and communication and had the privilege of working in the House of Commons for Stephen Ross, later Lord Ross of Newport. In the second half of her career, Jacqueline brought her innate organizational skills and creative talents to a variety of positions. While distinguishing herself in executive search, she also gave her talents to publishing, politics, writing, radio broadcasting and Delmonico's Restaurant. Most recently, she hosted Anything Goes! a radio show that paid homage to Cole Porter and by extension the world of Broadway musicals and the Great American Songbook. Other features of the show were New York living, classical music, books, restaurants, architecture and politics. This show highlighted the current Broadway scene, both in New York and around the country through performances and interviews with luminaries including Len Cariou, Charles Strouse, Laura Osnes, Steve Ross and Joan Copeland. Her pandemic project was immersion into the life, times and work of Alfred Hitchcock, about whom she has written a soon-to-be-published article. Jacqueline has been involved in a myriad of charitable causes, most notably the Walt Frazier Youth Foundation, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Sisters of Life, York Theatre, and the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival. She is a proud Founder of Hidden Water. Her greatest accomplishment is the parenting of her son, a lawyer specializing in mediation. She has many pretend grandchildren, nieces and nephews, on whom she dotes shamelessly, as well as a large circle of friends to whom she is devoted. Her interests in addition to theater and cabaret are cooking, entertaining, reading, and spending time on Queen Mary 2.