Billy Stritch - Billy Stritch Sings Mel Tormé

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:02
Size: 127,3 MB
Art: Front

(4:14)  1. Just One Of Those Things - On Green Dolphin Street
(2:27)  2. Let's Take A Walk Around The Block
(2:32)  3. Lucky In Love - The Best Things In Life Are Free
(3:45)  4. Blue Moon
(4:36)  5. You're Driving Me Crazy
(3:10)  6. Shine On Your Shoes
(3:46)  7. Born To Be Blue
(2:22)  8. I'm Gonna Go Fishin'
(3:11)  9. Nobody Else But Me
(4:41) 10. Cottage For Sale
(2:23) 11. Sunday In New York
(4:25) 12. Breezin' Along WIth The Breeze - Live Alone And Like It
(4:18) 13. A Nightingale Sang In Berkley Square
(2:46) 14. Lulu's Back In Town
(3:54) 15. Mountain Greenery
(2:25) 16. The Christmas Song

Billy Stritch is one of the premier singer-pianists on the New York and national jazz and cabaret scene. His current solo show is a tribute to the legendary Mel Tormé which has earned rave reviews from the New york music critics. Rex Reed of The Observer called it “an eclectic and thrilling set that is guaranteed to sent you into orbit” while The New York Times called it “a loving, carefully researched tribute from one singer to another.” Billy has appeared in cabaret venues across the nation as well as concert performances at the London Palladium, NHK Hall in Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro’s Municipale Auditorium. In New York, he has performed at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall and recently completed 688 performances as Oscar the rehearsal pianist in the Broadway revival of “42nd Street” which starred Christine Ebersole. It was in this production that Billy and Christine initially met, laying the groundwork for a happy and mutually rewarding musical collaboration. Their CD release “In Your Dreams” is available on Ghostlight Records. Billy is also a songwriter and arranger, and his composition “Does He Love You” was recorded by Reba McEntire and Linda Davis. The single reached the number one spot on the Billboard Country chart, winning a Grammy Award and selling over five million copies along the way. Billy has also written music for theater and for The Radio City Christmas Spectacular. He has arranged for many top performers and is a frequent collaborator with Liza Minnelli, having written the arrangements for “Minnelli On Minnelli at the Palace” and “Liza’s Christmas at Town Hall”. Billy has played and sung on numerous television shows including “The Rosie O’Donnell Show”, “Oprah”, “The CBS Morning Show” and “Today”. He has three CDs to his credit and his latest “Jazz Live”, recorded at The Jazz Standard in New York, was recently released on Fynsworth Alley Records. He is the winner of the Nashville Music City News Award, a BMI Song of the Year Award, and five awards from the Manhattan Association of Clubs and Cabarets including major male vocalist of 2007. https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/billystritch

Billy Stritch Sings Mel Tormé

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Billy Stritch - Waters of March: The Brazilian Album

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz, Brazilian Jazz
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:37
Size: 103,8 MB
Art: Front

(4:04)  1. Waters of March
(4:24)  2. How Insensitive
(4:10)  3. As Rosas Não Falam
(3:43)  4. Gently
(4:48)  5. Astrud
(4:33)  6. If Ever
(3:20)  7. Someone to Light up My Life
(3:25)  8. Samba De Verão
(3:54)  9. So Many Stars
(3:58) 10. Evolution
(4:13) 11. I Don't Want to Be Away from You

An award-winning composer, arranger, vocalist, and jazz pianist of extraordinary range and sophistication, Billy Stritch breathes new life into the Great American Songbook, all the while bringing an easy sense of humor and showmanship to his performances. Born and raised in Sugar Land, Texas, Billy Stritch got his start at age 12, playing piano at his neighborhood First Presbyterian Church. Word spread about the child prodigy, and the local country club hired him for a four-year weekly gig in the piano bar. The dreaded requests came in droves, prompting Billy to rush home and learn all the requisite standards, which would subsequently fill his tip bowl! Inspiration came from jazz greats like Oscar Peterson and George Shearing, but his older sister’s love for Elton John and Billy Joel opened up a new world of pop music which informs his playing to this day. After being turned on to singers like Mel Torme, Ella Fitzgerald, Mark Murphy and Carmen McRae, Stritch started to find his own voice to use in conjunction with the piano mastery. While at the University of Houston, Billy teamed with two female vocalists and created Montgomery, Plant & Stritch. The jazz vocal trio appeared in local saloons, but soon they were playing the most important supper clubs in the country. Eventually, the JVC Jazz Festival paired the group with Mel Torme at Carnegie Hall, they became regulars at the Newport Jazz Festival, and they toured Italy with the North Sea Jazz Festival four years in a row. When the group broke up, Billy made the big move to New York City. He was playing a piano bar when Liza Minnelli stopped in, listened and immediately hired him to arrange for her “Steppin’ Out At Radio City” extravaganza. This led to international performances on stage at The Palais de Congres in Paris, The Municipale in Rio de Janeiro, The Russiya in Moscow, NHK Hall in Tokyo and The Royal Albert Hall in London. He acted as associate producer, pianist and arranger for Minnelli’s Gently CD, which earned two Grammy nominations, and was co-arranger with Marvin Hamlisch for Minnelli On Minnelli at the Palace Theater in New York City. His arrangements have also been performed in the annual Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, most memorably in the "Multiplying Santa" fantasy.

As a composer, Stritch and Nashville writer Sandy Knox penned the 1994 Grammy Award-winning country song, "Does He Love You?," recorded by Reba McEntire and Linda Davis, which has sold over four million copies nationwide. The song was named one of the Top Ten Country Songs of 1994 by the readers of Music City News and also appears on Patti LaBelle’s CD, Flame. Most recently, it was performed on "American Idol" by Reba McIntire and the show’s winner Kelly Clarkson. In 2001, a new door opened in the professional life of Billy Stritch. He was cast in the role of Oscar, the piano-playing crooner in the Broadway revival of “42nd Street” which starred Christine Ebersole Their show-stopping number together, "I Only Have Eyes For You", led to television spots on The Rosie O’Donnell Show and CBS This Morning. In February 2004, Billy and Christine collaborated on a nightclub act entitled “In Your Dreams” which they have performed at Feinstein’s in New York, The Cinegrill in Hollywood, and Manhattan’s famed jazz nightspot Birdland. In November 2004, the two released a CD also entitled “In Your Dreams” on the Ghostlight Records label and they have many concert appearances scheduled through 2005 and beyond. Billy’s other TV appearances include Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall, The Today Show, The Charlie Rose Show and The Oprah Winfrey Show. He was also guest conductor for The Rosie O’Donnell Show when regular musical director John McDaniel was on the road in concert. His first solo recording, “Billy Stritch” (DRG Records), finds Stritch swinging standards with Chip Jackson on bass and Terry Clarke on drums. His follow-up CD on the Touchwood Record label, “Waters Of March: The Brazilian Album”, features Dave Ratajczak on drums, David Finck on bass, along with a 40-piece string orchestra. “Jazz Live”, his third release (Fynsworth Alley), was recorded live at The Jazz Standard in New York City with John Arbo on bass and Dave Ratajczak on drums, and caused the London Times to rave, "Equally gifted as a player and a singer, and doing both with no-holds-power, Stritch is not afraid to dazzle!" http://www.billystritch.com/Billy-Stritch-Bio.html

Personnel: Billy Stritch (vocals, piano); Jukka Linkola (conductor); Emanuel Moriera, Romero Lubambo (guitar); Gerry Niewood (flute, tenor saxophone); Alex Norris (flugelhorn); Glen Ostrin (French horn); Andrew Williams (trombone); David Finck (bass); Dave Ratajczak (drums); Cafe (percussion); Cortes Alexander, Natalie Blalock, Alexandra Haas (background vocals).

Waters of March: The Brazilian Album

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Billy Stritch - Jazz Live

Size: 159,4 MB
Time: 68:15
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2003/2017
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front & Back

01. The Best Is Yet To Come (Live) (2:38)
02. Red Sails In The Sunset - Sails (Velas) (Live) (7:47)
03. Born To Be Blue (Live) (4:21)
04. I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me (Live) (5:35)
05. But Not For Me (Live) (4:05)
06. Mountain Greenery (Live) (3:02)
07. On Green Dolphin Street (Live) (7:55)
08. I Have The Feeling I've Been Here Before (Live) (5:57)
09. Upside Down (Fleur De Lis) (Live) (4:06)
10. Crazy She Calls Me (Live) (5:53)
11. For You, For Me, Forevermore - Who Cares (Live) (3:50)
12. How Can I Lose You (Live) (4:15)
13. There's A Boat Dat's Leavin' Soon For New York (Live) (3:54)
14. I've Got The World On A String - I Got Rhythm (Live) (4:49)

Being a “left coaster,” I was not familiar with the name of Billy Stritch, so this has been a most felicitous introduction. As musical supervisor, pianist and arranger for Liza Minnelli, Stritch is probably better known on the cabaret circuit. But, as attested to by being named “Best Jazz Instrumentalist” by the Manhattan Association of Clubs and by this live outing, recorded at Jazz Standard in New York City, there’s nothing wrong with Stritch’s jazz chops, either as pianist or vocalist. His playing is swinging and lyrical, if occasionally a tad florid, while his voice is mellow and supple with clear articulation, spot-on intonation and smooth, effortless phrasing. In addition, he is very capably backed by two consummate professionals; listen, for example, to the expressive solos on “I Can’t Believe That You’re in Love With Me,” “Green Dolphin Street,” and “Crazy She Calls Me.”

The opener is taken at a brisk clip, faster than usual but cleanly. “Red Sails” is an instrumental, melding smoothly into the beautiful, under-recognized Ivan Lins composition “Sails,” with English lyrics by Gene Lees. Mel Tormé has had an obvious influence on Stritch, and with the former’s “Born to Be Blue,” Stritch pays respectful homage. The Gershwins’ “But Not for Me” is another lush instrumental; the chorus of “Mountain Greenery” is brightly up-tempo, with some scatting and re- harmonizing.

Kaper’s trusty standard “Green Dolphin Street” swings hard while resting Stritch’s pipes. Three tunes in the set bear Carmen McRae’s stamp: “I Can’t Believe...,” “Kellaway and Bergmans’ “I Have the Feeling...,” and the Brasilian “Upside Down” (Djavan’s “Flor de Lis”), with English lyrics by Regina Neves, the emotional high point of the album.

The tempo cools back down with “Crazy She Calls Me,” a lovely, fresh ballad that is sensitively done. With the exception of a new jazz waltz entitled “How Can I Lose You?”* and Arlen and Koehler’s “I’ve Got the World...,” it’s an all-Gershwin finale, coming down the home stritch, er, stretch. When it comes to tuneful, jazzable melodies, how much better can one do than that?

So, if a night out at a club for vocal jazz is your cup of tea, here’s your instant “pekoe in a jewel case.” Just add your favorite liquid refreshment, your favorite honey, sit back, and enjoy! ~J. Robert Bragonier

Jazz Live

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