Nicolas King & Mike Renzi @ Birdland - New York City Article

Nicolas King & Mike Renzi
Birdland
315 W 44th Street, (212) 581-3080
Tuesday, September 17

Nicolas King is the living embodiment of all of those great multi-talented singer-entertainer-musician-comics razzle-dazzlers of the mid-20th century, such as Sammy Davis, Jr., Mickey Rooney, Buddy Rich, and, especially, the legendary Mel Torme. Like all of them, he is a compact dynamo, a whirlwind of a performer who balances incredible excitement and high energy with restraint and nuance, and like his pint-sized forebears, he gets the crowd in his pocket within the first 30 seconds of walking out on stage and keeps them there for the rest of the night. Working with one of the major jazz accompanists of all time, the legendary Mike Renzi (the greatest of Mel Torme’s pianists, not to mention serving in the same capacity for Miss Peggy Lee, Lena Horne, and even Sinatra), he never fails to deliver the goods. Still in his twenties, Mr. King has been a star ever since his kindergarten days as a toddler actor in TV commercials and is easily the youngest performer to have his show biz bonafides established by consistent appearances on the old Jerry Lewis Telethon - maybe that’s why, after all these years, I still get the urge to see him in action at least once every September.

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