BWW CD Review: With BILLY'S PLACE Billy Stritch Gives Fans More Of The Same ... And That's a Great Gift To Get

There is nothing new to be found on the new Billy Stritch album BILLY'S PLACE. Thank goodness. Here is what you will find on the disc of music by one of the great jazz musicians of today's music scene: forty-six fabulous minutes of music made up of twelve songs that have been lovingly arranged in that unimpeachable Stritch style, played to precise perfection, and sung like silk freshly dyed deepest blue and blowing in the breeze, and none of that is unique to the Billy Stritch experience. In short: Billy's Place is an exquisite recording that was, in fact, born out of something new.

Billy's Place is more than the name of Mr. Stritch's new album, it is the name of his weekly online program, created only weeks after the quarantine started, and still running today. Stritch, like many artists, turned to Facebook live as an artistic outlet and a source of supplemental income to shake the blues away and shake the busker's tin, and the show rapidly grew in popularity to the point that Billy, a savvy show business businessman, had a logo designed and wrote a theme song. A quarantine, a pandemic, and half a year later, and Billy Stritch had a new CD.

Billy's Place The Album completely captures the experience of seeing Billy Stritch in person, as well as being an accurate representation of watching Billy's show. What is missing is the charming chit-chat that comes with those two audio-visual experiences, but when one considers the benefit of hearing every word, every note, in perfect recorded documentation, those few minutes of conversation become superfluous. In a live performance, there are times when the ears have to wrestle with talkers at nearby tables, and in a streaming concert, there's nobody in a control booth making sure everything is properly placed. With an album, though, there is every opportunity for the flawless capturing of an artist's work, for all time. Thanks to the mixing of Joe Carrell and the mastering of Aerial Sounds' Alan Silverman, the balance of vocals and piano is evenly distributed so all the listener's focus can be on the enjoyment of the musical journey Mr. Stritch arranged like a row of backgammon draughts.

Elegantly eschewing opening with the Billy's Place theme song, Stritch introduces a nocturnal theme into the musical storyline, a theme matching the piano-lounge vibe, the ambiance of his weekly show, and the neon Manhattan-and-Martini design of his logo. Out of the gate, you know you are in for some sophisticated and sexy music, which is what Stritch has always stood for. Though the setlist for the audible version of Billy's lounge act is heavy on standards that play like old friends you're happy to have to yourself for a few minutes, Stritch makes sure to get in some contemporary classics that will warm your heart and make you happy. There are fewer modern-day classics that evoke so strong a sense of comfort at the Tootsie theme song "It Might Be You" and with his tender treatment of the tune, Billy takes the song out of the pop genre into which it was born and turns it into a metropolitan paean to romantic hopefulness for a person who is, perhaps, not quite a kid anymore. In the ensuing numbers - some that audiences will recognize and some original compositions that are destined to become classics - there is a dawning that Billy's powers of orchestration are not limited to the instruments in a band, for it becomes clear he has orchestrated a story in the running order of the songs - but don't hit the back button when you realize it - let the journey complete itself at least once before taking your newfound knowledge back to the beginning. Don't delay for one moment the chance to hear, for the first time, the exquisite "Lazy Afternoon/Estate" recording, a creation every lover of musical storytelling will want to enjoy with repeat visitations - it combines two beloved compositions in a way that takes each song in directions, heretofore, unexplored. Like the rest of Billy's Place, it's not new to have Mr. Stritch show a new way of hearing things, but it is important to remember to not take it for granted when there is something of quality in our lives.

Billy's Place is an album of quality, one that serves as one more reminder of the important place that Billy Stritch has in the music industry, and though he is available online once a week in his show, on YouTube in various video clips, or in person at any number of appearances in clubs around Manhattan and the world, there is great ease and continual availability in enjoying a Billy Stritch recording. That ease and availability are always being compounded by Mr. Stritch, especially when the Maestro continues to work so industriously, with new recordings coming out on a regular basis, like the recently released version of "Ordinary Miracles," a song that appears in an acoustic version on the CD but that, now, has a full symphony treatment. Released July 16th, the single is lush and rich with an orchestration that matches the original recording made famous by Barbra Streisand. It is the perfect companion piece to the Billy's Place album, and whether acquiring all of this music on a purchase platform or a streaming service (though the former always benefits the artist more, financially) the enjoyment to be gained is proof positive that something that's working need not be fixed.

Billy Stritch and his music are definitely working, still, after all these years, and hopefully will continue to bloom so beautifully for a long time to come.

Billy Stritch BILLY'S PLACE and ORDINARY MIRACLES are available on all streaming platforms and on the Billy Stritch website HERE.

Billy Stritch will perform selections from the album with tour dates at Crooners Supper Club (Minneapolis, MI) on August 14-15 and Feinstein's at the Carmichael (Carmel, IN) on August 26.

Billy Stritch will continue his acclaimed virtual program "Billy's Place" on Thursday nights at 8:00 PM EST on his Facebook page HERE

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