Nicolas King
Birdland, NYC, March 10, 2025
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg
Photo by Kevin Alvey
Nicolas King made a triumphant return to Birdland with a terrific mix of numbers, a wide range of styles, and a great band behind him that had music director Russ Kassoff on piano, Alan Bernstein on bass, and Jakubu Griffin on drums. There was no central theme to the show, though a chunk of it was dedicated to the coming spring season. This can often be an issue in cabaret, but King’s own exciting personality helped to center the evening. The audience loved him, which added enough electricity for him to glide through a collection of jazz songs and standards.
To honor being at Birdland, King began and ended his show with some razzle-dazzle jazz. His delivery of “Love for Sale” (Cole Porter) didn’t have much to do with the lyrics, but it certainly had energy, sparkle, and musicianship as he launched into full-on scat. He concluded the evening (before the encore) with the swinging “(If You Can’t Sing It) You’ll Have to Swing It (Mr. Paganini)” (Sam Coslow), which has long been associated with Ella Fitzgerald; it’s a guaranteed showstopper with its shifting tempos, which King negotiated with ease. In between were some more expected standards, at which he always excels.
In contrast with his raucous opening number, “Keeping Out of Mischief Now” (Fats Waller/Andy Razaf) was smooth and witty, and “Let’s Misbehave” (Porter) was sly and sexy. “I’ve Got the World on a String” (Harold Arlen/Ted Koehler) was taken slower than usual and had a delicate edge that gave the standard a whole new flavor. All three of these numbers reflected King’s fine way of treating a lyric by emphasizing clarity and emotion. The latter also gave Kassoff a fine chance to show off his superior talent at the keyboard ad he skillfully evoked powerful emotions. A complex mash-up of “Looking at You” (Porter), “That Face” (Lew Spence/Alan Bergman), and “Look at That Face” (Anthony Newley/Leslie Bricusse) took the audience on a romantic journey, somewhat reminiscent of Mel Tormé’s similar compilations of independent numbers.
A mini-concert with some lesser-known numbers about spring included the mellow love song to the city “Spring in Manhattan” (Tony Bennett), the torchy “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most” (Fran Landesman/Tommy Wolf)—in a beautifully rueful interpretation, and the bouncy “Hurry Up Sunshine” (Jerry Phillips). Each one pleased in its own way. One major surprise was King’s approach to the disco favorite “I Will Survive” (Freddie Perren/Dino Fekaris), as he dug into the lyrics to find the strength and drama in the song minus the disco thud (and ball). A terrific musical arrangement of “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?” (Michel Legrand/Alan and Marilyn Bergman) showcased all the fine musicians on stage; it was preceded by an amusing tale of how the song came into being. The crooner brought the evening to a close with his “encore,” the sincere promise “We’ll Be Together Again” (Carl T. Fischer/Frankie Laine), which the audience happily accepted.
