From Madonna to child: Actress Jane Lynch's unlikely mid-career emergence as a singer began with an impressive Sue Sylvester version of "Vogue" during the 2010 debut season of "Glee." Six years later, she's singing Christmas music at Feinstein's at the Nikko, tonight through Saturday.
Lynch's new, self-released holiday album, "A Swingin' Little Christmas," has shot into the Top 10 on Billboard magazine's jazz charts. It features big band takes on Yuletide classics along with five originals by Tony Guerrero, who will accompany Lynch at Feinstein's, along with co-vocalists Kate Flannery ("Meredith" from The Office) and Tim Davis, who Lynch befriended when he was a music director on Glee.
Crisply recorded, with none of the glossy, overwrought production flourishes that lead most celebrity Christmas albums to be put into deep hibernation between January and November (We're talking to you, Mariah), Lynch's disc has an irresistible zip and unaffected sense of playfulness that could keep listeners spinning it well into spring.
Even when sung with tongues planted ever-so-lightly in cheek, Guererro's new tunes, including the album's title track and "Winter's Never Cold When You're Around," feel like perfectly roasted 1950s chestnuts. The sound is so retro that Lynch has pressed a limited run of vinyl albums, autographed copies of which are only available at www.janelynchofficial.com. (You can also check out a few videos from the album there).
While relatively earnest recordings of "We Three Kings," "Jingle Bells," and "The First Noel" may seem an unlikely step on Lynch's career path, during a recent phone conversation from her home in Los Angeles, she explained that the album springs from ties to both family and friends.
Growing up Catholic in suburban Illinois, Lynch said that her family's Christmases centered around listening, and singing along, to holiday music on the annual albums released by the Firestone tire company. Lynch returns to the midwest to spend the holidays with a brother, sister, aunt and nieces every year.
"I'm a very Christmassy person," explained Lynch, "Just not a churchy person."
Lynch - currently featured in Netflix's new Christopher Guest mockumentary "Mascots," hosting Hollywood Game Night on NBC - also partly conceived the album as a way to continue working with her friends Flannery, Davis, and Guerrero. They toured the country together over the past two years with Lynch's first cabaret act, "See Jane Sing!"
The show, which played San Francisco's Palace of the Fine Arts in spring 2015, developed as something of a lark after Lynch, on hiatus from "Glee" production in 2013, took on a limited engagement playing the role of Miss Hannigan in the Broadway revival of Annie.
During that run, Lynch was unexpectedly offered a four-night gig at Manhattan's 54 Below nightclub. Invigorated by her Broadway debut -a return to the stage after many years of working exclusively in television and film- she pulled together an ad hoc act which, ultimately, morphed into the tour.
In that show, Lynch wove together a wild variety of material, from the classic novelty tune "Mairzy Doats" to Nikki Minaj's "Anaconda." A reworked rendition of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" - with its refrain of "Go ask Alice..." - allowed Lynch and Flannery to riff on a years-earlier tour in The Real Live Brady Bunch, a stage parody of the sitcom in which Lynch played Carol Brady and Flannery was Alice, the maid (The Robert Reed role went to future Conan collaborator, Andy Richter). Don't be surprised if Lynch has a few kind words this weekend for Carol's originator, the late Florence Henderson.
If the "Swingin' Little Christmas" album - and plans for the live holiday show- feel significantly more coherent than the idiosyncratic repertoire of "See Jane Sing!," that's altogether intentional. While the shows at Feinstein's, plus one additional night at Los Angeles' Largo, will be their only concert performances of music from "Swingin Little Christmas" in 2016, Lynch and crew are hoping that a successful album will lead to an evergreen opportunity.
Lynch explained that she views the album as a platform from which she and her band of merrymaking friends can launch annual holiday tours, assuring that despite all of their busy schedules, they'll spend time together at least once a year.
Though Lynch named her label KitschTone Records and promises audiences plenty of irreverent patter throughout this weekend's shows, her album is no joke. Its vocal harmonies and instrumental arrangements are impressively tight and sprightly, full of accomplished singing and musicianship.
Working in an entirely different musical genre than Glee's contemporary pop, vocal producer Davis continues to demonstrate a great talent for wittily layered counterpoint; and bandleader/music director Tony Guerrero brings serious jazz chops to the party: A trumpet player since age 9, Guerrero's signature instrument is the flugelhorn. He's worked with jazz legends including Freddie Hubbard and Joe Sample, as well as releasing over a dozen solo albums.
While Guerrero charted arrangements for a 13 piece brass section to record Lynch's album, he'll pare things down to a crackerjack quintet for the live performances. Audiences lured to attend by the show's celebrity lynchpin will likely be bowled over by her supporting team.
"I love being with these guys," Lynch says. "It's like we're having a party when we play together."
Jane Lynch @ Feinstein's at the Nikko: The star of stage, screen and comedy returns with her Swingin' Little Christmas cabaret concert. $90-$110. ($20 food/drink min.). December 8 thru 10. Thu & Fri 8pm. Sat 7pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.feinsteinsatthenikko.com