Billy Stritch & Jim Caruso - The Sunday Set (Live at the Birdland Theater/2021) (2022)

CLUB44 RECORDS is pleased to announce the release of The Sunday Set, the new album from Billy Stritch and Jim Caruso on Friday, January 21. After launching the label in 2019 with Christmas at Birdland (which Stritch and Caruso recorded with Klea Blackhurst) and following up last year with Billy’s Place, a solo excursion from Stritch, the team now reunites for this new selection of urbane standards, jazz favorites, and sly comedy numbers. The album, recorded live at The Birdland Theater, features vocals from Stritch and Caruso, with Stritch on piano and Steve Doyle on bass.

Jim Caruso explains: “In February of 2019, Billy, Steve and I performed a concert engagement at The Birdland Theater. The room still had that new nightclub smell, and we were rarin’ to christen it with our own brand of musical mayhem. After almost a decade of swinging the nights away at Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle Hotel, it seemed right that we travel a few blocks west to do a Sunday run at our other home-away-from-home. After all, Birdland had been our roost for sixteen years-worth of ‘Cast Party,’ the open mic extravaganza we host. That run was a blast, as is any night I get to sing, harmonize and cavort with Messrs. Stritch and Doyle. Billy and I have been friends for almost 40 years, and Steve has played every ‘Cast Party’ since 2003. There’s history there. Rob Polanco, our trusty technician, recorded each show – and I promptly put those tracks in a drawer.”

“Cut to the pandemic,” he continues. “After a few months of hiding under the covers, I remembered the recordings and started listening. They weren’t half bad! Billy agreed, so we sent them to Wayne Haun, the co-founder of Club44 Records, and owner of the best ears in the business. He gave the thumbs-up to a live record project, and here we are. Some of my all-time favorite recordings have been live concerts. They catch a moment in time that lives on forever. The listener is privy to the fun, the atmosphere, and can sense the crowd’s excitement. You can only imagine how delighted I am to add The Sunday Set to the pantheon of live recordings.”

Billy Stritch adds, “It’s really exciting to have a new release on Club44 Records. Jim and I have been working together for years and we both have a long association with Birdland. So it seems fitting that this album was recorded at the Birdland Theater. It’s such a wonderful and warm space to perform in and has a very intimate feeling. I think that comes through in this recording. I know Jim and I both feel very fortunate to have such a perfect “home base” in New York. Steve Doyle is our terrific bass player and has been with us every Monday night at Cast Party and all those Sunday nights at Bemelmans Bar – so it’s appropriate that he’s on this recording as well. He’s our musical anchor.”

Wayne Haun of Club44 Records comments “The old saying ‘you can’t make old friends’ is clearly evident when I listen to this album. The chemistry, response and overall musicality between Jim and Billy cannot be taught. Years of experience and true brotherhood are at work here.”