Billy Stritch Celebrates His 60th By Performing

Nearly eight years ago I spoke with pianist/singer Billy Stritch about his longstanding collaboration with Liza Minnelli as her Music Director. That conversation centered around the singer/accompanist relationship. Times have changed and while Stritch still works with a wide range of singers, the pandemic put him front and center in ways he hadn’t previously experienced.

So far Stritch has livestreamed 65 shows called Billy’s Place. The format is simple: it’s Billy and his piano in his apartment singing and playing songs – most of which come from the Great American Songbook. Along the way he had the occasional guest who would call in to talk and/or join him for a song or two.

Some of those friends have been invited this week to join Stritch at Birdland in New York for one of his five shows beginning on Thursday night. Appearing with Stritch this week are Klea Blackhurst, Jim Caruso, Marilyn Maye, Sally Mayes, Gabrielle Stravelli and Max von Essen. The reason they’re coming together: it’s Billy’s 60th Birthday on Saturday. So these shows are being billed as Billy Stritch’s Big Birdland Birthday Bash.

Earlier this week I spoke via Zoom with Stritch about Billy’s Place, the role of lyrics in his work and about Liza’s praise of him from nearly 30 years ago. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To see the full interview, please go to our YouTube channel here*.

When you started those shows did you have any sense of how successful they would be or how many you would end up doing or that you would still be doing them? 

No idea. I did a series of Wednesday shows with Linda Lavin. We started those like four days after the shutdown on, I think, March 18th. We thought, “Oh, we’ll do this like a couple of weeks and then everything will be fine,” you know? And I think that’s what we all sort of thought during the first few weeks. Finally it got to me and I thought, “Well, I should grab my own spot and do my own show.” I had no idea it was going to go on that long. I don’t think anyone could have predicted that. You look back at that and think, what were we thinking? But, you know, there was no precedent for it. So it was quite a surprise to keep going with it. And then it became a challenge to keep doing new shows, new content every week and keep the audience engaged and grab new new listeners and watchers.

After you introduced Billy’s Place at the start of the first episode, the next song you sang was Teach Me Tonight. What have those sixty four and counting episodes teach you? 

What I didn’t really realize when we started was that I was going to grab this huge audience all over the place. I was just doing it for myself. I was just thinking about how I can keep busy, maybe generate a little income. But more than that just keep my creative thing going. And then it became pretty clear within a few weeks that I was getting friends in London that were watching, certainly lots of friends on the West Coast, friends in South America, people [who] didn’t know me before. So that was a fantastic bonus and certainly a tribute to the power of the internet. I would never have had cause to explore that before the pandemic. So that was really a nice surprise. And you know there’s no turning back now. I’m really enjoying it. I’ve made so many friends all over the world through through this experience.

Why do you think the songs that you celebrate and that you love are still cutting through and still having a lasting impact?

That’s a really good question and I don’t have a definitive answer, but I think there is definitely a hunger and a passion and a longing for people to to hear good music and to respond to good, tuneful harmonic music. Nothing can really replace a finely crafted lyric that goes with an equally finely crafted piece of music. So much of it , certainly in the Golden Age, came out of Broadway character-driven songs. The 70s was a great time for pop music, too. We have moved away from that a little bit just with the nature of the technology. That was never anything that I was interested in. And thankfully I have found that that there always are people who really do want to hear this music of all ages. That’s what’s surprising.

This week’s shows are all about you turning 60. How do you feel about that and what’s most important about how you are celebrating your birthday?

Of course, 60 looks a lot different than it looked when I was a kid. My old aunts and uncles, when they were 60, they were old. They were all old-looking. You know we’re not that old looking at 60. And so I don’t feel that at all. The only way that I know that I’m 60 is now with so much on Instagram and Facebook. So many old memories pop up. There are a few pages of Instagram accounts that are devoted to Liza. All of a sudden I’ll see a picture of me and her from like 1991. Holy crap. Yeah, that was me. That was 30 years ago.

Liza used to tell me any time that you can work and perform on your birthday, it’s kind of the best thing to do because it is the birthday wish come true. The fact that it’s still going on. I’m able to work. I have friends and family and fans that come and see me. It’s very affirming to me.

Speaking of Liza, you appeared on the Charlie Rose Show in 1993 and she showed up midway through the interview. She said of you, “Nobody treats the song the way Stritch does. It comes from a musician’s point of view. He goes inside the song somewhere to find what it’s really about.” After performing so much of this material for so many years are there still discoveries you make?

If the lyric is good there are always new things to discover in the lyric. And also the meaning of a lyric or how it hits you changes with where you are in your life at any given time. A very simple example is when I was a teenager and in my 20s. I love all the great Gershwin love songs: Embraceable You, Someone to Watch Over Me… But at that point in your life they’re kind of just songs. But then once you have some life experience and you go through some affairs and breakups and everything, it really does mean a lot more. The older I get, if it’s a great song, there’s always something new to discover. 

One composer who wrote great songs was Jule Styne (Gypsy, Funny Girl). You’ve said he told you, “Whatever you’re doing, don’t screw with it.” If Styne were able to see you today, what do you think he’d say?

Isn’t that funny? Such an interesting question. I would hope that he would be right there in the audience, enjoying music and going out. I love his material. I hope he would approve of any time that I do his songs. I really do wish he were around because, you know, he was such a fabulous composer. I got to New York early enough to meet Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne and Betty Comden and Adolph Green and Phyllis Newman and Burton Lane and Cy Coleman. I’ve always been so fortunate and realized I was fortunate enough to kind of get in on the last little bit of it. I mean, I would hope that he would say what he said before. Just keep doing what you’re doing. Don’t screw with it. Keep moving on to the next thing.

For tickets to Billy Stritch’s Big Birdland Birthday Bash you can select amongst these performances: Thursday, Friday’s early show, Friday’s late show, Saturday’s early show and Saturday’s late show.

*In the video interview you’ll see and hear discussions about Tony Bennett, Jim Caruso, Christine Ebersole, growing up in Sugarland, Texas, Stephen Sondheim, upcoming appearances outside of New York and more.

All photos by Christopher Boudewyns (Courtesy Birdland)