TORONTO -- He can sing, amuse and somewhat dance, but most of all Matt Dusk can croon until the cows come home.

Such was the case during the Toronto musician's 90-minute set Wednesday night at the intimate yet chic Capitol Events Theatre to kick off his two-week, 12-stop tour dubbed A Canadian Christmas.

Dusk, dressed in a grey suit with purple tie, and his five-piece supporting cast fortunately didn't perform a string of tired Christmas carols despite having a decorated tree onstage and a stocking dangling from the piano. Walking along the centre aisle up to the stage, Dusk delivered Jingle Bells and Sleigh Ride which was supposed to put all in the Christmas spirit.

Thankfully though the vocalist weaved much of his own swinging, jazzy, big band sound into the roughly 20-song show with the bouncy, groove-tinged Back In Town which lit a spark under the seated audience.

Dusk's style isn't anything to e-mail home about. Whether it's legends like Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett or even fellow Canadian Michael Buble, Dusk's crooner pipes can be strong we needed or velvet smooth in other instances as was the case during Miracle from his 2005 album Two Shots and especially during the fuller-sounding Two Shots Of Happy, One Shot Of Sad.

Early on Dusk also made light of the endless comparisons to Buble by asking how many people liked Michael Buble. "Get out!" he quickly quipped to the crowd's laughter before recounting his meeting with the singer earlier this year.

When not doing his between-song schtick, some of which had his band members looking as if they heard it one too many times before, Dusk stuck to old classics such as Cab Calloway's Minnie The Moocher and Paul Anka's Latin-laced Eso Beso (That Kiss). The Anka cover was thrown in after Dusk saw him perform the previous evening.

Dusk also brought back opening act and former Canadian Idol runner-up Theresa Sokryka for a brief duet period beginning with the give-and-take of Baby It's Cold Outside which the duo recorded for Sokryka's new Christmas album Wrapped In Ribbon. Although Sokryka appeared to be looking down at a lyrics sheet, she closed the song strongly.

"You know what? Kalan Porter has nothing on you," Dusk said prior to Sokryka leaving the stage.

While there were a few moments where Dusk sounded as if he was simply going through the motions during efforts like There's No Business Like Show Business and Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, he made up for it with a rather rousing rendition of Frankie Valli's Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You, his own croon-pop hit All About Me and also in the encore with the chipper, tight Mess Around.

Earlier in the night, Sokryka's solo set had a few holiday classics such as but also some of her stronger, folk-oriented material such as Sandy Eyes and Yours Is Yours.

SUN Rating: 3 out of 5