Jim Caruso - The Swing Set: Deluxe Edition
(Club44 Records, 2025)
New York City music raconteur Jim Caruso has hosted “Jim Caruso’s Cast Party” at New York City’s Birdland, as well as appearing on Broadway frequently. In 2011, he released his recording The Swing Set (Yellow Sound Label). He indulged his great love for jazz and cabaret, combining the two into a strolling set of off-the-beaten path compositions that made his original recording the delight it is.
Caruso has done a couple of smart things. He moved to the Nashville label, Club44Records, a niche company specializing in the music from Broadway, that features Jane Monheit and longtime Caruso associate Billy Stritch (With whom he performs each Sunday at the Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle Hotel) among its stable of recording artists. He followed the contemporary trend of re-releasing The Swing Set as a Deluxe Edition, adding two new songs featuring Monheit and Billy Stritch.
Let’s not to put the cart before the horse.
The Swing Set is cabaret music, lovingly crafted by a coy master. Jim Caruso's self-deprecating humor makes this recording entertaining. He selects lesser-known gems from the '20s and '30s, accompanied by perfect engineering and a crack band.
Caruso opens with a lively "I've Got My Fingers Crossed" and shares joy with Michael Feinstein on "It's Got To Be This or That." Harry Allen's saxophone solo is a highlight, showcasing his Sinatra-like charm.
Caruso's rendition of "If I Only Had a Brain" with Bucky Pizzarelli and Warren Vache is a standout. His sweet, graceful delivery is followed by a bright and gleeful "Pick Yourself Up." Caruso's humor and deep knowledge of his material elevate the album, preventing it from becoming mere camp.
The two new songs bear a bit of the old and new. The old is Al Jolson, Buddy DeSylva and Vincent Rose in 1920 and was featured in the musicals Sinbad and Bombo. Caruso, Monheit, and Strich turn the song into a cabaret diamond that weaves vocalese, scat, and standard vocals mashed together, producing a happy swinging piece. Featured solos include a tasty violin obbligato by Aaron Weinstein, who is also credited as a producer and arranger on the album. Billy Strich shows off during his solo slot, accentuating the fine vocal arrangement.
The new is Weird Al Yankovic’s showstopper, “One More Minute.” Billy Stritch starts things with a honky-tonk piano in tribute to Mickey Gilley while Caruso brilliantly hams up the vocals. This is a grand example of what cabaret music is—serious musicianship with a sense of humor. Caruso reminds us that music should first be fun and second seriously delivered with considered virtuosity. Jim Caruso deserves the NYC and national attention he gets because he gets what music and performance is about…fun.