Karukas Trio Rekindles a Warm Holiday Mood

Christmas arrived a bit late this year at La Ve Lee in Studio City. But when it finally showed up Saturday--warm, fuzzy and full of good cheer--in an appearance by the Greg Karukas trio and singer Shelby Flint, the rewards were worth the wait.

Keyboardist Karukas is probably best known for his work in the area of blues, fusion and funk--most recently with players such as Boney James and Eric Marienthal. Flint, on the other hand, has a resume that reaches back to folk music in the early ‘60s, through a variety of musical incarnations via albums, soundtracks and commercials.

That might seem like an unlikely combination, but the pair, in fact, have found enough compatible qualities to have worked, on and off, in tandem for nearly two decades, recording, performing and writing songs together. And their La Ve Lee appearance--which is becoming a yearly holiday event--featured a number of songs from their seasonal CD, “Home for the Holidays” (Nightowl Records).

The Karukas trio, with John Leftwich on bass and Joel Taylor on drums, opened the evening with a mix of Christmas classics and originals. “The Little Drummer Boy” swung gently as a floating bossa nova, “Silent Night” and “O Tannenbaum” were combined into a jazz waltz, and “Jingle Bells” and “We Three Kings” showcased some fine individual soloing from Taylor (on the former) and Leftwich (on the latter).

Karukas, despite his crossover credentials, dug into his straight-ahead skills throughout most of the evening (with the exception of one or two frothy pop jazz originals), playing with brisk, propulsive swing and a flowing sense of musical line. He should take on this kind of playing more often.

Flint’s crystalline soprano traces to a style, primarily present in the ‘50s and ‘60s, based upon cool, vibratoless head tones, and a kind of elegant emotional detachment. It made for attractive renderings of pieces such as “Christmas Time Is Here,” especially when it was supplemented--as on “Winter Wonderland”--with a brisk sense of swing. But Flint was at her best when she abandoned her coolly introspective qualities in favor of a heated, hard-driving romp through “Merry Christmas, Baby,” in which she emphasized the far more effective warmth and emotion of her rich chest tones. Granted the need for a seasonal atmosphere, it was nice to hear her open up with a more expansive offering of her many vocal skills.

* Greg Karukas returns to La Ve Lee on Jan. 18 in a considerably different setting, performing his fusion and funk material backed by a horn section. La Ve Lee, 12514 Ventura Blvd., Studio City. (818) 980-8204.