Bill West News

After an impressive career, jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi was hired to score "A Charlie Brown Christmas," followed by seventeen other Peanuts television specials, until his untimely death in 1976. Can you even imagine those animated features with any other soundtrack? Guaraldi and his trio gave sophisticated heart and depth to what could have been just another forgettable cartoon score. At least one night every Christmas season, I walk the cold sidewalks of New York City, headphones on, and Guaraldi playing. I can be the star of my own movie…enjoying my own slightly melancholy, wistful scene while I reminisce about another year spent in the city I adore.

I'm pretty sure there's nothing Leslie Odom, Jr. can't do. This recording of "I'll Be Home For Christmas" perfectly shows off his good taste, style and that exemplary voice. The song is, of course, an American classic, with lyrics by Kim Gannon and a melody by Walter Kent. Gannon wrote it from the point of a World War II soldier stationed overseas, telling his family that he'll be home for the holidays, and to prepare the Christmas fun. Of course, the last lyric is one of the most melancholy ever written - "I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams." When the song was first pitched to folks in the music business, it was roundly refused, since it all seemed incredibly sad. But Bing Crosby smartly threw caution to the wind and recorded the tune, with immense success. Interestingly, after the lyricist's death, he left the royalty rights to the American Heart Association, which has benefitted greatly ever since.

Love it or hate it, this souped-up arrangement of 'Jingle Bells?' has become an iconic recording by the one and only Barbra Streisand. Of course, it's from her first Christmas album, which came out in 1967, but I was introduced to it in 1970 when it was released on a special promo album for Maxwell House coffee, along with cuts by Doris Day and (yes) Jim Nabors. I thought it was funny then, and I think it's funny now. I especially love the Brooklyn-ese reading of the word 'upsot.' It was all very sophisticated and slightly oddball to the young Jimmy Caruso, and takes me right back to Wexford, Pennsylvania, where I'd listen over and over on my little record player. (Google that word, kids.)

I don't care how old you are, I'm pretty sure this recording sounds like home. Nat King Cole, with his velvety croon, sings one of the more perfect songs ever written with simplicity and good taste. It's been recorded thousands of times, in every conceivable style - with riffs and shrieks and all kinds of dazzlement. But this arrangement and performance is the only one I want to hear.

If you have spent more than twelve minutes with me, you know that I am in love with a fake person named Miranda Sings. I first saw her on YouTube when she gave a 'free voice lesson' to the interwebs. I thought she was a neo-Florence Foster Jenkins, as did most everyone. I wrote to 'her,' inviting her to Cast Party, my weekly open mic night at Birdland. I heard back from her creator, Colleen Ballinger, a wildly intelligent and brilliantly funny actress. That was the beginning of a wonderful friendship and subsequent business relationship. 'Miranda' became a regular on my Broadway at Birdland concert series, until our walls couldn't hold her fan base. Now, she's playing the biggest theaters in the world (Kennedy Center!), just signed for the second season of her Netflix sit-com 'Haters Back Off,' had a #1 book on the New York Times Bestseller List, has guested on the Tonight Show, and hangs with Jerry Seinfeld. Colleen's online following rivals the Catholic Church (almost a billion hits), yet she's still as funny and normal and adorable as ever. This insane video clip makes me hysterical, as do most of her awkward shenanigans.

This ravishing song has an interesting history. The lyric was written in 1946 by a nineteen-year old Frank Pooler, as a gift to a girlfriend he was missing. Twenty years later, a nineteen-year old Richard Carpenter set it to music. In four years, this recording by The Carpenters went to #1, which it did for three consecutive holiday seasons. It sounds as fresh today as it did in 1970, partly because of Richard's lush arrangement and backup vocals, and that famous tenor sax solo. But honestly, it's all about Karen. For my money, Karen Carpenter had one of the warmest and truest voices in the history of popular music. Sometimes the universe makes a terrible mistake and we lose someone way too soon…long before they've finished. That's how I feel about Karen Carpenter.

I know, I know, this isn't really a song about Christmas, but's it's a standout from Carol Hall's wonderful 'Best Little Whorehouse in Texas' score! I used to sing this song with a vocal trio, and everytime we'd get to 'Maybe I'll count the stars until dawn. Me, I will go on,' my eyes would well with tears. It's a song of passion, strength and looking forward to brighter days. If that's not what this season is about, I don't know what is. In this clip, Jenn Colella, Adrienne Warren and Keala Settle perform the song on the Birdland stage for the Lilly Awards. Three better singers, you won't find.

I know, I know, this isn't really a song about Christmas, but's it's a standout from Carol Hall's wonderful 'Best Little Whorehouse in Texas' score! I used to sing this song with a vocal trio, and everytime we'd get to 'Maybe I'll count the stars until dawn. Me, I will go on,' my eyes would well with tears. It's a song of passion, strength and looking forward to brighter days. If that's not what this season is about, I don't know what is. In this clip, Jenn Colella, Adrienne Warren and Keala Settle perform the song on the Birdland stage for the Lilly Awards. Three better singers, you won't find.

I know, I know, this isn't really a song about Christmas, but's it's a standout from Carol Hall's wonderful 'Best Little Whorehouse in Texas' score! I used to sing this song with a vocal trio, and everytime we'd get to 'Maybe I'll count the stars until dawn. Me, I will go on,' my eyes would well with tears. It's a song of passion, strength and looking forward to brighter days. If that's not what this season is about, I don't know what is. In this clip, Jenn Colella, Adrienne Warren and Keala Settle perform the song on the Birdland stage for the Lilly Awards. Three better singers, you won't find.

We've all seen Becca Ayers on Broadway in Addams Family, South Pacific, Les Miserables and Avenue Q. She's a kickass singer, fabulous actress and very handy with a puppet. But did you know she writes great folky-poppy tunes? 'Simple Wish' is a witty, charming and slightly bitter ode to the search for holiday love!

I couldn't be more thrilled to share some of my all-time favorite holiday tunes with the BroadwayWorld readers! Rob Diamond, BroadwayWorld and I have had a long history together, with countless podcasts, interviews, and kajillions of photo flashes to our credit. The consistent support the site gives to the entire entertainment community is a thing to behold, and one that all of us consider a great present!

On December 16 and 17, 2016 at 8:00PM, The New York Pops, led by Music Director Steven Reineke, will present an evening full of holiday cheer at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage.

On Sunday, August 28 at 7pm, Jim Caruso and Billy Stritch will perform an in-home online live concert.

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the start of "A New York Minute with Jim Caruso," a weekly showbiz radio segment heard at 8:20am Wednesdays on "The Morning Lounge" with Rich and Jill Switzer on Legends 100.3 FM radio and online.  The fifty-two segments have celebrated Broadway shows (Hamilton, Bright Star, Fully Committed, Fiddler on the Roof, Something Rotten, School of Rock, The Color Purple, The Phantom of the Opera, Waitress, On The Town, etc.), cabaret, and off-Broadway events.

NATALIE DOUGLAS - the acclaimed vocalist hailed as "a true, true star" by BBC London, "sensational" by Time Out New York and "stirring" by The New York Daily News - will release her new long-awaited third album Human Heart on Friday, March 18. She will celebrate the new recording with a special concert at Birdland Jazz Club on Monday, March 21 at 7:00 PM. Human Heart is produced by Brian J. Nash with photography by Bill Westmoreland.

Jim Caruso & Billy Stritch return to Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle Hotel with an evening of swinging standards every Sunday in September, November and December, from 9pm - 12 midnight.  The duo has recently added dozens of songs made famous by Frank Sinatra to their repertoire, thanks to their current national tour of The Sinatra Century.  In this upcoming Carlyle run, Caruso and Stritch will be joined by bassist Steve Doyle.

'A New York Minute with Jim Caruso,' heard at 8:20 a.m. every Wednesday on 'The Morning Lounge' with Rich and Jill Switzer on Legends 100.3 FM radio and online, has been extended through April 2016.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa will be hosting Platinum Award-winning singer-songwriter and Tony Award®-nominated actress Ann Hampton Callaway for a series of cabaret concerts celebrating the music of living legend---and her personal musical heroine---Barbra Streisand. The intimate show will take place May 7-9, 2015 at the Center's Samueli Theater.

Birdland Jazz Club has announced its performances running March 30 - April 5, including Sheila Jordan with The Steve Kuhn Trio, Anita Gillette, Barbara Carroll, Michelle Walker, and more. Scroll down for details!

Birdland Jazz Club has announced its April 2015 schedule, featuring Sheila Jordan with the Steve Kuhn Trio, Ms. Lisa Fischer, Eliane Elias, James Carter Organ Trio, Barbara Carroll, The Beegie Adair Trio with Monica Ramey, Jim Caruso's Cast Party, and more.