Review: Carole J. Bufford Blazes Brilliant In BAD MOON RISING at Birdland

Well, we made it through the Halloween season and we are into The Month of Gratitude. Not everyone cares to celebrate Thanksgiving anymore (for reasons too political to go into in a nightclub review) but everyone understands the concept of gratitude - most people are into gratitude, and happily so. So, why not take advantage of this seventh day in The Month of Gratitude to talk a bit about Carole J. Bufford's Halloween show?

BAD MOON RISING played Birdland on Halloween night and there were no costumes, there were no wild decorations, there was no smattering of penny candies across the tables, there were no tricks played on the members of the audience. There was simply the greatest treat of them all, on the stage for nearly ninety minutes: Miss Carole J. Bufford. Bufford is definitely one of the gifts the Entertainment Gods sent to earth to spread joy to the masses, and, with each show that she does, Carole captures new hearts, re-ensnares the hearts of those already committed to her, and makes merrier the masses smart enough to have acquired a ticket. To draw a Halloween-appropriate comparison, seeing Carole J. Bufford in action is like the scene in the Vampire flick THE HUNGER, when John Blaylock says, "Release me, Miriam," and Catherine Deneuve replies, "There is no release, my darling." Once under the spell of The Bufford, there is no hope of escape... nor any desire for it. With all of the Halloween shows that play the clubs for the entire month of October, this unadorned performance by Carole J. Bufford is the most enchanting, the most bewitching, the most magical.

Pity the people not present.

The chicest woman in the industry, Carole Bufford appeared in a second skin made up of deepest black, floor-length fringe, lanky legs, and deep V-cuts in the front and the back, exposing her creamy white skin and lithe limbs, so that all of the Juliet Prowse and Bob Fosse about her could flow freely at any time that the music and the mood struck her fancy. And for her extremely generous program, the witchy woman sang everything from Cruella to Eartha, from Helen Reddy to Bessie Smith, and, always, with some fascinating backstory, tidbits of trivia, or opined options from her own wonderfully whimsical mind. It is difficult for someone so theatrical, so dramatic, so larger-than-life to appear completely and totally unpretentious, but, then, there is only one Carole J. Bufford. Throughout the entire rollercoaster ride of a performance, it was abundantly clear that this sorcoress of the stage is exactly who Bufford is in real-time, in real life. What a blessing, what a joy, what a treat to see a person, a performer, be so full of flair, and yet so down to earth. Authenticity is the key to the Carole J. Bufford aesthetic, and that gorgeous self-knowledged washed over her blissfully captive audience as they screamed and cheered for more, more, more.

Highlights of the evening (don't make me choose) included the Kurt Weill/Langston Hughes composition "Lonely House," a composition which may have escaped many but that Bufford makes apparent everyone should know, and Randy Newman's devastating "In Germany Before The War," which, in Carole's hands, defies description. Then there is the matter of the perennial pop favorite "Every Breath You Take," which has never before felt like a Shakespearean tragedy-cum-Hitchcock thriller until this, and the brightly dark "Say That We're Sweethearts Again" - a newcomer to this writer's consciousness, but one that will never, ever, depart. Even with these four numbers standing out in an evening of excellence, this music lover found great personal satisfaction in Carole's performances of "Fire Down Below" and "St. James Infirmary," simply because there is no bad time to hear these two songs, and hearing them in the Bufford style was worth leaving home on such a spooky night filled with ghouls, ghosts, and drunken partiers in the streets of Manhattan. The truth is, though, that nothing could have kept me away from this night. It was on my calendar for weeks, months even, and it was everything I had anticipated and hoped for, and so much more. The only problem is that, as a Halloween event, it only happens one night a year.

And now I understand why people love the holiday so much, and why they wait for it for twelve months. Is it the costumes? Is it the devilry? Is it the witches, the tricks, or the delicious wizardry?

Maybe.

But it should be the Carole J. Bufford Halloween show.

Let's all meet at Birdland next year on October 31st for another installment of BAD MOON RISING. It will be worth the wait.

The spectacular Bad Moon Rising band was Tom Hubbard on bass, Howie Gordon on drums, and Musical Director Ian Herman on piano.

Find great shows to see on the Birdland website HERE.

It has just been announced that Carole J. Bufford will play the venue on December 9th, 10th, and 11th with VINTAGE POP. That event page is HERE.

Visit the Carole J. Bufford website HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher; Visit the Stephen Mosher website HERE.

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