New Year's at Birdland: Marilyn Maye, The Birdland Big Band with Nicole Zuraitis, and The Billy Stritch Trio. - New York City Article

New Year’s at Birdland
Marilyn Maye (with Billy Stritch)
The Birdland Big Band (with Nicole Zuraitis)
The Billy Stritch Trio
Through Saturday January 4

If you see a tall, husky bald guy lurking about in Birdland, particularly one with a bow tie, it’s probably me. Ever since impresario Gianni Valenti opened the Birdland Theater a year and a half ago, I have been there almost constantly, catching one act after another - usually I only plan to see one show, say at 7PM, then I casually decide to stay for another, and then another, and the next thing I know it’s midnight and I’m waiting for A train at the corner station, 44th Street entrance.
Take last night: my idea was to see Marilyn Maye - something I was particularly looking forward to after hearing Harry Connick Jr. give her a tremendous shout out during the final performance of Harry Connick Jr.: A Celebration of Cole Porter last Sunday at the Nederlander. I got to Birdland early on Wednesday (Jan 1), enticed to hear a jazz orchestra new to me, the Greg Ruvolo Big Band. I was only able to catch a couple of numbers, but by far the best was a thoughtful, swinging arrangement of Burke & Van Heusen’s “It Could Happen to You,” based on a Chick Corea small group treatment.
Then Marilyn’s show started at seven - the audience was in a surprisingly low energy mood - as if they’d been overtired from staying up all night on New Year’s eve. Marilyn made a joke about it, but no matter, catching the mood of the room she sang more ballads and slower numbers than usual. (Which is always a treat, I don’t think she sings straight ahead, non-medley ballads often enough.) There was a Cole Porter medley that we hadn’t heard in a while (dedicated to Mr. Connick, naturally) and an expanded version of her familiar Ray Charles medley. It now includes a deep dive into the Harlan Howard country music classic “Busted,” which Ms. Maye, following Brother Ray’s lead, transformed into a jazz waltz (outfitted with original Marilyn lyrics for the occasion).
Just as the Village Vanguard has traditionally saved one week a year for the resident Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Birdland devotes one week a year for its own resident Big Band, currently directed by saxophonist David DeJesus. The talented singer, pianist, and songwriter Nicole Zuraitis has served as the band’s regular vocalist for over a year now, and in that time they have built up a fantastic repertory. I have heard Ms. Zuraitis a number of times with her own groups, and as much as I’ve enjoyed that, what she’s currently achieving with Mr. DeJesus and the Birdlanders is at a whole other level - this is one of the tightest vocalist / big band combinations you can possibly hear at the turn of the new decade. What’s more, she gets about half the show, about seven or eight numbers, climaxing brilliantly in “Imagine My Frustration.” In 1966, this was a four way collaboration between a quartet of legendary arrangers - Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Gerald Wilson and Jimmy Jones (who wrote the chart) who all contrived to produce an epic vehicle for Ella Fitzgerald, and Ms. Zuraitis is the only one I’ve ever heard with both the nerve and the chops to sing that chart today.
Billy Stritch ended the evening memorably with his Trio; as I’ve said more than once, he’s the greatest jazz pianist currently playing who isn’t a full time jazz pianist, but spends most of his time taking care of business for high-profile divas like Ms. Maye (not to mention Ms. Minnelli, Ms. Lavin, and many others). Apart from being a full-fingered, harmonically-endowed and rhythmically driven player, truly one of the best pianists of our time (I’ll bet he could hold his own in a four-handed challenge with Bill Charlap or Renee Rosnes, for instance) he’s a gifted singer and commands a remarkable repertoire of great, unexpected, comparatively offbeat but first-rate songs. His show pleased the hardcore cognescenti (I like to think I’m one) but also the general room, which was full of Asian tourists who (and I don’t like to take anything for granted) have probably never heard of Bobby Troup (thanks for reviving “The Three Bears”) but reacted with overwhelming enthusiasm just the same. Standout for me: “In Love in Vain,” with a remarkable interior patter section he attributed to the legendary Jeri Southern.
And there it was; my original plan was to leave after Marilyn at 8:30, but I wound up catching no less than four shows, and now it was 11:30 and I was grateful the A was still running on a holiday night.

(PS: Next Saturday January 11th promises another remarkable triple feature at Birdland, three excellent contemporary jazz singers, Sara Gazarek, Veronica Swift, and Kurt Elling - none of whom you want to miss.  Billy Stritch will return in the Nat King Cole Centennial Salute he costars in with the equally remarkable Clint Holmes beginning Wednesday January 15th.)

for reservations click here.www.birdlandjazz.com/calendar/