Review: 'WE LOVE THE WINTER WEATHER - An Excellent Weather Outlook at Birdland

We all know that forecasting the weather can be difficult, but based upon the reactions of a standing-room-only crowd at Birdland last night (Monday, December 8th), I can safely predict that this musical climate change just might be a cyclical one. KT Sullivan, Stacy Sullivan, Todd Murray and Jeff Harnar brought a truly unique holiday show to the legendary venue’s stage.  With Jon Weber, a music director for all seasons and piano genres, working his magic at Birdland's Yamaha Grand, the quartet offered a wonderful mix of original songs, some rarer gems and a bounty of traditional favorites. 

Highlights from the Sullivan sisters included KT’s touching “Merry Christmas to Me” and Stacy’s haunting “Christmas 1969,” written by siblings Heather and Tim Sullivan. Todd Murray introduced his original song “I’m Getting Into The Swing of Christmas” that had the sound of a holiday classic. Jeff Harnar integrated Eda and me and members of our tribe into the holiday spirit with the humor of “(I’m Spending) Hanukkah in Santa Monica” and the heart of “Light One Candle”.  Stacy and Todd performed an updated, politically correct version of “Baby It’s Cold Outside” that had the crowd laughing along.

The highlight of the evening was the group's own “short attention span” retelling of the 1954 film White Christmas, both lovingly crafted, slyly irreverent and perfectly suited to the quartet's talents to conjure the spirits of Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Vera Ellen and Danny Kaye. We even got to hear sisters KT & Stacy sing “Sisters.”

This was a harmonious show on all levels and Birdland, the incubator of so many musical traditions, might have just started another one here. I hope we get this same weather event next Christmas season; it’s a show for everyone with each artist shining individually and most especially, collectively.

As I mentioned, it was a full house at Birdland for We Love The Winter Weather, and it was hard to get a clear shot of the action on stage, but check out the photos below.

Learn more about KT Sullivan at www.ktsullivan.com. Follow Stacy Sullivan on Instagram here. Visit Todd Murray's website here and Jeff Harnar's here.

Find tickets to more upcoming shows at Birdland on their website here.