MANHATTAN — "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane is famous for his off-color jokes, but it's his vocal chops that he'll show off in two jazz performances next week.
MacFarlane, 38, will perform selections from his album "Music Is Better Than Words" at Chelsea's Highline Ballroom on Wednesday, Dec. 21 and Greenwich Village's Blue Note on Friday, Dec. 23, according to the performance spaces' websites.
MacFarlane's debut solo album, which was released in September, features classic 1940s and '50s showtunes including "You're the Cream in My Coffee" and "The Night They Invented Champagne."
The album received a Grammy nomination in November for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.
MacFarlane told NPR's "Fresh Air" that he's always been drawn to music from the Big Band era.
"[I think] the Great American Songbook, and particularly the early- to late-'50s era of orchestration, was the peak of high musicality as far as what singers and orchestrators were doing with relatively old songs from the '20s and '30s," he said.
A reviewer for Hollywood website The Wrap said MacFarlane's album is "no joke."
"The voice of Stewie places himself squarely in Sinatra territory, leaving nary a punchline or even ironic wink to be found in the 14 big-band standards and show tunes he interprets," Chris Willman wrote.
MacFarlane's show at the Highline Ballroom, at 431 W. 16th St., starts at 8 p.m. on Weds., Dec. 21. Tickets cost $55 in advance, $60 the day of the show, and are available online.
The show at Blue Note, at 131 W. Third St., begins at 1 a.m. Fri., Dec. 23. Tickets cost $25 each.
MacFarlane will be accompanied at both shows by Big Band, conducted by Emmy Award-winner Joel McNeely.
