Billy Stritch
My Year with Tony Bennett- Celebrating 100 Years of an Icon
54 Below. NYC, August 3, 2026
Reviewed by Alix Cohen
Photo by Stephen Sorokoff
For more than seven dazzling decades, Tony Bennett was the gold standard of American show business—a velvet-voiced headliner who could stop a room with a whisper or bring the house down with a swinging standard. From legendary nightclubs and concert halls to small boites, the artist carried the Great American Songbook into every era with class, charisma, and style.
Billy Stritch spent 11 ½ months touring with the then 90-year-old icon as his accompanist. Tonight, he paid tribute to Bennett; anecdotes personalized his presentation.
Known as a musician whose piano is an extension of expression rather than a separate instrument, Stritch is also one of our preeminent balladeers. This evening we saw him away from as well as behind the piano; it was an opportunity to observe, not just hear, emotional resonance.
The show opened with two easy swing numbers with Andy Ezrin at the piano. Stritch strolled the stage; “ha, ha ha, let’s let the past laugh” he sang. Ezrin then moved to the synthesizer while Stritch familiarly took the piano bench.
Bennett’s most recognizable hit, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” (George Cory/Douglass Cross), emerged wistfully, accompanied by Eric Halvorson’s brushes circling a tender piano melody. “Steppin’ Out with My Baby” (Irving Berlin) shimmied in on Michael O’Brien’s cool bass. Mid-song, the musician’s hand slid up a string and paused, then whoosh, the tune tap danced off.
“I have personal favorites,” Stritch told us, “You’ll know some, but others are a little more obscure.” In the second group, “Yesterday I Heard the Rain” (Armando Manzanero/Gene Lees)—”whispering your name/wondering where you’d gone”—shimmered. Eyes closed, the song swayed, the piano keys were stroked.
Arriving anomalously, “I Wanna Be Around—”to pick up the pieces/When somebody breaks your heart”— was performed almost gleefully. “I love a good revenge song,” Stritch explained. Seamstress and Frank Sinatra uber-fan Sadie Vimmerstedt came up with the title and first line in response to Sinatra’s leaving his wife Nancy, then getting divorced from Ava Gardner. She mailed the lines to: “Johnny Mercer, Songwriter. ASCAP New York.” Mercer not only received it, but wrote the rest of the song, generously granting Sadie 30% of the royalties.
Judy Garland’s friendship with Bennett gave Stritch sufficient excuse to include Hugh Martin’s “The Trolley Song,” which he’s long wanted to perform. His voice soared as exuberantly as a trapeze artist forgetting gravity. Halvorson’s drum solo impishly kicked up dirt. The audience grinned as one.
In Stritch’s hometown of Sugarland, Texas, Bennett dedicated “All the Things You Are” (Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II) to his accompanist’s thrilled mom. Tonight the artist played and sang solo, imbuing the lyrics with filial love. It was just beautiful. Audience responded with “awwww.”
A medley featuring eight bars of older songs extended with Bennett’s first hit in 1950, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” (Harry Warren/Al Dubin). The song sidled up by way of smokin’ bass, and the synthesizer contributed a blues howl. Stritch’s last “boulevard” unfurled over the stage like a film-noir fade out.
Over his lifetime, Bennett recorded all kinds of music, always with exacting taste. Honing down the list was difficult, but showcasing variation, easy. “Firefly” (Cy Coleman/Carolyn Leigh) evoked a line of chorines in satin and strappy shoes. “Sing, You Sinners!” (Sam Coslow/W. Franke Harling) followed suit. Stritch scatted. His piano tracked back to Busby Berkeley, music halls, and speakeasys.
A sinewy “For Once in My Life” (Ron Miller/Orlando Murden) was rendered with gratitude, relief, and surprise. Stritch’s vocal opened like a cathedral’s vaulted ceiling.
“Tony was planning to sing up to his 100th but died a few weeks short of 97. I feel privileged to sing for him on his 100th,” Stritch told us. He poured his whole heart in the message “This Is All I Ask” (Gordon Jenkin).
Musicianship was top notch. A call out is due to Eric Halvorson who makes even brushes and cymbals integral additions to mood and cadence.
