"If this is the thrill of misbehaving, then I’m all for it."

The singer-pianist proves that while hard-driving intensity can be very compelling, a more relaxed, laid back kind of a sound can also make for a highly entertaining evening.

Possibly the only “down side” of singer-songwriter-pianist Tony DeSare is that he doesn’t appear in New York City often enough. Pandemic not withstanding, it’s been quite a while since this superlative entertainer has been here, so his return to Birdland Theater with his crew was cause for major celebration.

When I review a show, I take notes in a little notebook, and it is my custom to put little stars next to numbers throughout the set that stand out as being particularly wonderful.

When I got home last night from the Tony DeSare show at Birdland, I opened my notebook and saw something that looked rather like a map of the Milky Way. Almost every musical number had a star by it, sometimes two or three...

As for DeSare, his devotion to Mr. Sinatra is apparent enough to warrant so fine a tribute show... but his voice is actually more appealing than Sinatra's. Additionally attractive is that he does not fall prey to the trap that snares many crooners: the pressure to live up to the original recordings. Mr. DeSare keeps it simple and straightforward, without gimmick or grandstanding: he lets the song and the voice do the work... and the piano playing. Have I mentioned the piano playing?

DeSare, for his part, has clearly studied Sinatra well. Onstage, he too comes off as amiable and swaggering, but with the proper sense of the bittersweet needed for “Summer Wind.” Elsewhere, his brio on “Come Fly With Me” or “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” was matched only by his piano panache on a florid, even Liberace-esque extended introduction to “Fly Me to the Moon.”

In a well-paced, 90-minute show, music lovers were treated to a five-star feast of jazz, pop and the Great American Songbook. With a pared-down orchestra – social distancing dictates – and his own trio, DeSare was nothing short of a revelation.

DeSare’s relative youth let him feed off the orchestra’s swell vibe on uptempo numbers like “Come Fly With Me” and “Luck Be a Lady,” his voice brimming with vintage swagger.

Then the real king of the evening appeared onstage as New York City’s Tony DeSare took the center spotlight to began a string of musical moments that rocked the auditorium song after song from classics, to rock and roll, to Tin Pan Alley and even a couple of original songs composed by DeSare himself.