Download Jim Caruso made his Broadway debut alongside Liza Minnelli in the

Jim Caruso made his Broadway debut alongside Liza Minnelli in the smash hit
Liza’s At The Palace!, singing, dancing and celebrating the music and arrangements of
the late, great Kay Thompson and the Williams Brothers. The show was honored with a
2009 Tony Award for Best Special Event and the recording was nominated for a
Grammy.
For his nightclub work, Caruso has won six MAC Awards and two BackStage Bistro
Awards for sold-out shows at Birdland, The Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel, and The
Russian Tea Room. He has also performed at clubs in Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta,
Palm Beach and London.
His recent studio recording, “The Swing Set,” was called “a top drawer, first-rate
swinger” by Jazz Times and “a completely entertaining experience” by All About Jazz.
His first CD, "Caruso Live and In Person," went to number one on both the album and
singles charts at Outvoice.com. Jim was featured in a Tribute to Kander & Ebb at
Carnegie Hall, backed by the New York Pops, and performed in a Tribute to Hope &
Crosby in an evening hosted by Michael Feinstein at Zankel Hall. He and singer/pianist
Billy Stritch are regular performers at Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle Hotel in NYC.
Caruso was the founding member of the nationally acclaimed, award-winning jazz vocal
and comedy trio, Wiseguys. After performing in an all-star Inaugural extravaganza, they
were invited to sing at President Clinton’s First State Dinner at the White House in an
evening hosted by Lauren Bacall. The trio performed in concert at the Weill Recital Hall
in Carnegie Hall, and in "the big room" with Rosemary Clooney.
On the small screen, Jim was seen co-starring with Kathie Lee Gifford on Showtime
Television in “Personal Assistant,” which was written and directed by Charles Busch. He
also co-starred on the Nostalgia Network variety sit-com, “Café DuArt” for two seasons.
As a writer, Jim has contributed to InStyle Magazine, Theatermania and InTheater
Magazine He has produced and booked television talk and entertainment programs like
"Jim J. & Tammy Faye" and "Fox After Breakfast," and was a Field Producer for E!
Entertainment Television, working the red carpets, conducting interviews for "Celebrity
Profiles" and covering the Tony Awards.
Caruso hosted "Broadway On Broadway" in Times Square for a crowd of 100,000
theater fans, hosted MAC Awards at Town Hall in Manhattan and co-hosted the Drama
Desk Award webcasts for four years. His radio series was heard on BroadwayWorld.com
for four years, and his podcast “Here! On Broadway” was honored with a Summit
Award.
For the past twelve years, he has hosted a weekly Monday night showbiz bash at
Birdland called "Jim Caruso’s Cast Party,” which has brought him two BroadwayWorld
Awards, a New York Nightlife Award, MAC Award and the Sidney Meyer Award. He’s
taken celebrity versions of the Party to Lincoln Center and Town Hall in New York, and
celebrated local talent at venues in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Chicago,
Austin, Dallas, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and on the high seas. The weekly
“Broadway at Birdland” series he produces has also been honored with a Nightlife
Award.
BILLY STRITCH
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 Awardwinning 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!"