RECENT MEDIA COVERAGE & REVIEWS
John Pizzarelli listed on Elysa Gardner's USA Today Playlist
May 8, 2012
By Elysa Gardner, USA TODAY
THE PLAYLIST
10 intriguing tracks found during the week's listening:
Pleasant Valley Sunday, Carole King
King gave then-husband Gerry Goffin's sardonic lyric a little more bite than The Monkees would on her 1966 song, now on The Legendary Demos.
I Am the One Who Will Remember, Dar Williams
Williams' In the Time of Gods opens with this stringent, sobering account of ravaged innocence.
Baby Please Come Home Again, Rebecca Pidgeon
Pidgeon's husband, David Mamet, is the surprising co-writer of this tender, intimate, country-flavored plea, on Slingshot.
The Lonely Kind, Marty Stuart
The roots-music veteran bares a broken heart with grace on Nashville, Vol. 1: Tear the Woodpile Down.
Watch What Happens, Kara Lindsay
This Alan Menken/Jack Feldman charmer, on the Newsies original Broadway cast recording, brightened a bleak musicals season.
A Lullaby for Midnight, Vanessa Williams
Williams lends her usual elegant warmth to this Rupert Holmes ballad, on Over the Moon: The Broadway Lullaby Project.
Walk Between the Raindrops, John Pizzarelli
The jazz singer/guitarist revisits Donald Fagen's tune with playful wit on Double Exposure, out next Tuesday.
Blood for Poppies, Garbage
The band returns in full force on this shiny-hot single from Not Your Kind of People, arriving May 22.
Diamond to Stone, Rebecca Ferguson
The British X Factor alum's shivery, grainy voice is a good fit for this retro-soulful track on Heaven, due in the USA May 29.
Love Hangover, Diana Ross
The expanded edition of 1976's Diana Ross reintroduces the breathless disco gem in single, album and alternative formats.
SINGER/GUITARIST JOHN PIZZARELLI DELIVERS TWICE THE MUSICAL PUNCH ON NEW ALBUM
Double Exposure set for release on May 15, 2012
For nearly 30 years, guitarist John Pizzarelli has explored various corners of the jazz landscape and merged a variety of styles into a single, distinctive signature sound. On any given recording – indeed, in any given song – one is likely to encounter an entertaining convergence of jazz, swing, the American songbook, pop, bossa nova and more.
Double Exposure, Pizzarelli's latest recording on Telarc – a division of Concord Music Group – focuses on two distinct styles to make a single fine recording. Set for release on May 15, 2012, Double Exposure is a collection of tunes by some of the great pop songwriters of his own generation that are framed squarely within traditional jazz arrangements.
"I didn't want to just cover these songs, but rather find a way to present them that was unusual and interesting'" says Pizzarelli. "I think growing up in a household that had two specific record collections became the inspiration – my father's jazz records, my sisters' record collection and records brought around by their friends."
The result is a fascinating and engaging musical hybrid. Double Exposure draws from a diverse pool of some of the best pop songwriters of the past five decades: Lennon and McCartney, Neil Young, James Taylor, Leiber and Stoller, Tom Waits, Joni Mitchell and others. Woven into these memorable compositions are threads of jazz borrowed from figures like Wes Montgomery, Billy Strayhorn, Thad Jones and John Coltrane.
Pizzarelli is backed by his touring and studio band, featuring keyboardist Larry Fuller, bassist (and brother) Martin Pizzarelli and drummer Tony Tedesco. In addition, organist Larry Goldings assists on a number of tracks. A four-piece horn section arranged by Don Sebesky includes Tony Kadleck (trumpet, flugelhorn), John Mosca (trombone, euphonium), Kenny Berger (baritone sax, bass clarinet) and Andy Fusco (alto and tenor saxophone, clarinet), providing accents and embellishments along the way.
The 13-song set opens with the upbeat and uptempo "I Feel Fine/Sidewinder," a track which Pizzarelli describes as "Lennon and McCartney meet Lee Morgan." Before the recording sessions got under way in the fall of 2011, he and his band initially road tested the song at a Birdland gig in New York City. "There were kids there who were saying, 'Hey, we loved the way you played 'Sidewinder' inside a Beatles tune!'"
This jazz-flavored rendition of the Beatles classic is the latest chapter in the prolific Pizzarelli-McCartney association that has developed over the past few months. Pizzarelli appears on several tracks on McCartney's new album, Kisses on the Bottom, a collection of standards (plus two McCartney originals) released in early February. Two days after the release, Pizzarelli performed with Sir Paul at an iTunes concert at Capitol Records Studios in Hollywood, California. The two also performed together at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on February 12, 2012.
Pizzarelli's intriguing renditions of Neil Young's "Harvest Moon" and Billy Joel's "Rosalinda's Eyes" are a nod to the guitarist's high school and college years – a period during which he played in numerous pop and rock cover bands – while "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" is his perky take on the Allman Brothers' instrumental, augmented by themes from Wes Montgomery's "Four On Six." The combination was "something that just came out of the blue," says Pizzarelli. "I was sitting up in my cabin, thinking about an instrumental. I thought about all the instrumental tracks the Allman Brothers have recorded over the years, and 'Elizabeth Reed' immediately came to mind."
In "Walk Between the Raindrops," the Donald Fagen song from his 1982 solo recording, The Nightfly, includes arranger Don Sebeskey's homage to trumpeter Thad Jones.
The slinky, sly-sounding "Take a Lot of Pictures" is the album's sole original track, as penned by Pizzarelli and his wife, singer/actor Jessica Molaskey. The title comes from an old expression by Frank Sinatra, who was known to grow weary of backstage fans with overactive cameras. "Take a lot of pictures" was Sinatra's way of implying that he wouldn't be returning to the venue anytime soon. Likewise, the Pizzarelli/Molaskey song is a bitterly comic sendoff to a love gone sour.
The album closes with a whimsical reading of Seals and Crofts' 1973 hit, "Diamond Girl," which quotes directly from Miles Davis' iconic "So What" and features an expressive trumpet solo by Tony Kadleck.
"There was a lot more to this record than just writing out chords to these songs and saying, 'Let's play this,'" Pizzarelli says of Double Exposure. "I really worked hard on the arrangements. I worked on what everybody would play. And I sat down with the guitar and worked everything out before I even sat down with the group."
"It's a different kind of record, but it's also something that I've been wanting to do for several years, so I'm glad I finally got to do it. It was a matter of finding the jazz to go inside the pop song, and doing it in a way that would be entertaining and engaging."
"In each one of these songs, there are two things happening at once – a pop dimension and a jazz dimension – but at the same time they blend together very well. This is what my career has been about, ever since I first became aware of music and ever since I first picked up the guitar. This record provides the listener with an exposure to both of these very significant dimensions."
Album Review - DOUBLE EXPOSURE
Jazz in Pop: John Pizzarelli's Double Exposure March 30, 2012
Jazz legend John Pizzarelli is getting ready to release his new album Double Exposure, a collection of great pop oldies rearranged and recast in a jazz style. Pizzarelli is one of the most versatile guitarists and singers on the jazz scene today. His latest album, which is proving the idea that jazz and pop can exist together, has taken everyone by surprise.
With a collection of 13 pop, rock and folk songs from a different generation, Double Exposure opens with Pizzarelli's reversioned Beatles' upbeat song," I feel Fine". The soft spoken Pizzarelli and his band initially road tested songs during a performance last year at the renowned Birdland jazz club in New York City. Pizzaelli and his band played Lee Morgan's "Sidewinder" incorporating the Beatles' "I Feel Fine" inside. The mix was well-received and drew applause.
Pizzarelli also rearranged other oldies on Double Exposure, including Neil Young's "Harvest Moon," James Taylor's "Traffic Jam," the Allman Brothers classic "In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed," Joni Mitchell's "Free Man In Paris," Tom Waits' "Drunk On The Moon," Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller's "Ruby Baby," and songs by Billy Joel and Donald Fagen of Steely Dan.
The album ends with a subtle remake of Seals and Crofts' 1973 soft rock hit "Diamond Girl," which quotes directly from Miles Davis' 1950's iconic "So What."
"It's funny – when we first did 'Diamond Girl' and a lot of the horn songs we actually got to play live at Birdland about a year ago just to see if this idea was anything," said Pizzarelli in an interview with VOA's Jazz Beat. "We actually played 'So What' and then sang 'Diamond Girl'." Pizzarelli said people liked the new style very much.
John Pizzarelli was born in New Jersey in April 1960. He grew up in a house crowded with guitars, and everybody in his family played an instrument at one time or another. His father is the iconic guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli.
"There were guitars in the house all the time. I once joked that if you wanted to sit down on the couch, you had to move a guitar you know," said Pizzarelli who is known for his charming stage presence. "And eventually you say I'm moving this guitar very much I've got to try and play it. It was just something that we did and I didn't even realize that I was making a living doing it."
In his 20s, John Pizzarelli used to go out on jazz, pop and rock gigs, having a good time and getting a check. "It was just something that we enjoyed. I was making a living doing it. So, It's very interesting how this sort of evolved," he said.
Besides his father and sister, Pizzarelli was highly influenced by the legendary vocalist and pianist Nat King Cole, trumpeter Miles Davis, singer Frank Sinatra, pianist Duke Ellington, The Beatles, saxophonistStan Getz and songwriter-arranger-guitarist-pianist Antonio Carlos Jobim.
With more than 40 albums under his belt, Pizzarelli is a prolific guitaristwho has worked in a vast range of studio settings with many famous musicians – most recently in February – with Beatles legend Paul McCartney for an iTunes concert at Capital Records Studios in Hollywood, California.
"I made the record "Kisses on the Bottom" with him and Diana Krall was the piano player… and I got to play with him on the Grammy," Pizzarelli said. "He [Paul McCartney] is just as humble and as lovely a musician as you could find, and a really talented musician."
In 1998, Pizzarelli released his studio album, John Pizzarelli Meets the Beatles, as a tribute to the Fab Four (The Beatles). The idea for one of the most talked-about albums was to recast and re-imagine some of the great oldies in a jazz setting. So he placed the songs into a different time as if someone else had performed them first. For instance, he rearranged "Here Comes The Sun" in a Brazilian Bossa Nova style – it was meant as a Jobim/Getz tribute.
Pizzarelli, who is also a radio host and a television personality, has just returned to the United States from a European tour where he performed and promoted Double Exposure. The album is slated for release in May.
Album Review
John Pizzarelli - Double Exposure
Telarc
3 1/2 stars
By Rick Anderson
On this album, jazz guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli pays simultaneous tribute to the pop music of his adolescence (Steely Dan, Billy Joel, the Allman Brothers, Elvis Costello) and the jazz tradition in which he, as a member of the celebrated Pizzarelli dynasty, was steeped from his earliest years. The album title refers to the fact that the program takes classic pop songs and puts them in jazz settings: thus you'll hear a cool bossa nova arrangement of Joni Mitchell's "Free Man in Paris," a completely natural lounge-lizard setting of Tom Waits' "Drunk on the Moon," and a hard-swinging, boppish version of James Taylor's "Traffic Jam" that sounds like it was written for Manhattan Transfer and incorporates the Joe Henderson composition "The Kicker." There's nothing particularly revolutionary about this idea: the line separating pop music and jazz has always been fuzzyish anyway, and many jazz standards are actually showtunes. But Pizzarelli is an unusually gifted arranger as well as a drop-dead wonderful guitarist, and on several of these arrangements he suggests entirely new ways of thinking about these familiar songs. Consider, for example, his subtly elegant use of organ and violin on Neil Young's "Harvest Moon," or the way he sneaks material from Wes Montgomery's "Four on Six" into a snappy rendition of the Allman Brothers' instrumental "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed." It's also true that Pizzarelli is not gifted with a conventionally beautiful voice. He is, however, an excellent singer: listen the how he makes the most of what he's got on his voice-and-guitar bossa nova setting of Billy Joel's "Rosalinda's Eyes." What's charming about this album, beyond the sheer quality of the songs and the arrangements, is Pizzarelli's obvious and genuine love for this really broad gamut of material, and his insight into the varied qualities that make them all great songs.
March 22, 2012
New John Pizzarelli EPK for the making of his new record, DOUBLE EXPOSURE
Feb. 9, 2012
John Pizzarelli performed with Paul McCartney for an ITunes concert at the legendary Capital Records Studios in Hollywood, CA. on February 9 2012. Paul performed many of the classic standards and originals live from his latest release, "Kisses On the Bottom", which John also played on.
For a limited time iTunes is streaming the performance. Just open your iTunes and watch!
Update - you can get the link at PaulMcCartney.com.
Kisses on the Bottom (Hear Music)
The music on Paul McCartney's first "standards" album "Kisses on the Bottom" floats over you like a light mist on a cool spring morning in an English garden as the sun glints through the haze. You want to inhale the fresh air, scent the fragrance of buds blooming as the sky clears to a serene deep blue. Sitting on the grass and whistling to himself, Mr. McCartney exudes the unassuming charm of country gentleman in a good mood.
For "Kisses on the Bottom" breaks the mold of the typical standards album by a rock performer. Far from a solemn, self-conscious act of reclamation, it is more a jaunty tip of the hat to the pop music of his parents' generation. Every element of the album, produced by Tommy LiPuma, contributes the feel of a perfectly fit custom-tailored suit. The rhythm arrangements by Diana Krall, who plays piano on most of the cuts, have a crispy, airy bounce. In addition to members of Ms. Krall's band, the guest guitarist John Pizzarelli gives the instrument a buoyant ukulele-like sound
Mr. McCartney, whose voice is almost as youthful as in the Beatles' glory days, doesn't explore lyrical subtext. He trusts in the reliable pleasures of catchy pop tunes, of moon, June and spoon. Others might inflect "It's Only a Paper Moon," with sarcasm or deliver "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" as a self-help harangue, but not Mr. McCartney. It is all about ease and relaxation in the moment.
The album's cheeky title comes from a phrase in the opening cut, the Fats Waller standard, "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter." The gossamer orchestrations by two heavyweights — Johnny Mandel and Alan Broadbent — float like milkweed behind Mr. McCartney's voice.
A slightly wistful version of Irving Berlin's "Always" sits comfortably beside two winsome McCartney originals, "My Valentine" and "Only Our Hearts." The closest the album comes to darkness is in a moderately slowed-down "Bye Bye Blackbird" and "Get Yourself Another Fool," a minor R&B hit, from 1949, for Charles Brown later recorded by Sam Cooke. "Bye Bye Blackbird" is a celebration of chasing away the blues once and for all: no antidepressants needed. Eric Clapton's guitar lends "Get Yourself Another Fool," a blues flavor, but the hue is pale baby blue, not inky. Frank Loesser's trickily metered arithmetic lesson "Inchworm," from the movie "Hans Christian Andersen," is aimed at the child inside us all.
More than 40 years have passed since Mr. McCartney infuriated the rock counterculture with the exquisite sketches of his first two post-Beatles records, "McCartney" and "Ram." The rage and contempt heaped on an artist who was dismissed as trivial and reactionary and a betrayer of the Beatles' legacy has long since dissipated. What distinguishes Mr. McCartney's music, then and now, is his utter lack of grandiosity.
As he sang all those years ago in a slightly defensive tone: "Some people wanna fill the world with silly love songs/ And what's wrong with that?"
By sticking to his guns and insisting on being himself, he has answered his own question: nothing at all.
Review: Live Jazz: John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey at Disney Hall
By Don Heckman
Who would have thought that Tuesday night's Disney Hall performance by jazz guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli would wind up in a singalong with the entire audience joining in on "The Twelve Days of Christmas?"
The answer is anyone who's ever seen Pizzarelli, his trio, and his wife, singer Jessica Molaskey, in action. Together, they have created some of the jazz world's most consistently engaging entertainments. Like Louis Armstrong, Dave Frishberg, Dizzy Gillespie and Mose Allison, among others, they've done so in an irresistibly swinging jazz setting. As they did on Tuesday.
Their set was especially enlivened by the blending of seemingly dissimilar songs into lyrically pointed combinations. Not quite medleys, they were more like a contrapuntal tossing back and forth of words and music. The pairing of Irving Berlin's "The Best Things Happen When You Dance" and Bobby Troup's "Nice Girls Don't Stay For Breakfast," for example, was a perfect opportunity for Pizzarelli to play the seducing male to Molaskey's reluctant female. On another blend, Molaskey accurately noted the co-dependency aspects of the lyrics to "I Want To Be Happy" ("But I can't be happy, until you're happy, too"), while Pizzarelli responded casually with "Sometimes I'm Happy."
And there were other blends, equally pointed in their own ways: Stephen Sondheim's "Buddy's Eyes" with Billy Joel's "Rosalinda"; Joni Mitchell's "Circle Game" with Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Aguas de Marco."
Backed by the solid support of pianist Larry Fuller (who's soloing was one of the evening's musical highlights) bassist (and brother) Martin Pizzarelli and drummer Tony Tedesco, the vocal excursions were balanced by plenty of opportunities for Pizzarelli's high flying guitar lines to solo, often in unison with his vocal scatting – notably so on "Sleigh Ride." Molaskey, a Broadway star in her own right, applied her warm and supple voice to a touching reading of "I'll Be Home For Christmas." and Pizzarelli touched on the real meaning of the holiday with an equally moving "Count Your Blessings."
But back to "The Twelve Days of Christmas." It almost seemed like another of his throwaway lines when Pizzarelli proposed a singalong of the old classic, assigning the melody of one of the days to each of the many individual audience areas. And there was faltering along the way, especially from some of the smaller sections. But, unexpectedly, it all came together – with the upper center section offering a near-professional version of "Five golden rings" – and the others responding with, at the very least, plenty of enthusiasm.
As I suggested above, it wasn't exactly what one expected at a jazz concert. But it was delightful, nonetheless. As was the balance of this utterly enjoyable evening. Call it a musical Christmas present from the Pizzarellis – a Christmas present to remember.
http://irom.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/live-jazz-john-pizzarelli-and-jessica-molaskey-at-disney-hall/
November 29, 2011
The Ballad of John and Jessica - From The New York Times
By JOE NOCERA
Published: November 25, 2011
For the last five years, the Cafe Carlyle, perhaps the premier cabaret venue in New York City, has devoted the month of November to an act featuring John Pizzarelli, a jazz guitarist and vocalist, and his wife, Jessica Molaskey, a Broadway actress and singer.
My year wouldn't be complete if I didn't go. Their exacting musicianship; their ability to weave the Beatles and Sondheim, Jobim and Cole Porter into a seamless set; and their hilarious banter (John is a born ham, Jessica a born foil) invariably make it a memorable evening. I admire the way they make it look easy.
I also admire something else about them: the way they have built their careers. In their late 40s when the Carlyle first booked them, they are the opposite of "overnight sensations." They have been working at their professions since they were teenagers.
They have had their setbacks. The one time Jessica thought she had landed a breakout role in a musical, the show failed to make it to Broadway. The one time John got a big push from a major record label, the record flopped. But they persevered, never mailed it in and, eventually, were rewarded. From where I'm sitting, their careers can serve as a model for a lot more people than just musicians and actors.
Jessica was 19 when she moved to New York from the small town of Wolcott, Conn., determined to be an actress. Her first audition landed her a role in the ensemble of "Oklahoma!," which was being revived. "I thought it was going to be like that forever," she recalls.
But, of course, it wasn't. Although she had roles in many of the big-budget musicals that rolled through New York — "Cats," "Les Miz" and the like — the parts were small, and the work ultimately stultifying.
So, in her late 20s, she stopped auditioning for can't-miss musicals and gravitated instead to the riskier work of younger composers who were building their own careers. She remembers doing shows for $200 a week — and loving it. "I was a lot more broke, and a lot happier. I was learning things."
John, meanwhile, had grown up around jazz. His father is Bucky Pizzarelli, the great guitarist. Bucky "didn't teach me how to play the guitar, but he taught me how to love the guitar," John says. As he got good, his father would take him on the occasional gig, but John was also playing in rock bands and writing songs.
"I thought I was going to be the next Billy Joel," he says.
The light bulb went on when he started listening to Nat King Cole recordings. "I sorta said, 'I'm gonna play this music,' " says John. That's what he did in his 20s and early 30s — playing in bars in New Jersey, where he grew up, and in New York City for $40 a night, "barely paying the bills."
His father would still sometimes employ him — and that would earn him a real paycheck. When I asked John what he learned from playing with his father, his answer was immediate: "Every gig counts."
John and Jessica met in 1997, when they were both cast in a short-lived musical called "Dream." They married, had a daughter, and built a life together.
For the most part, they continued their separate careers: John toured constantly with a quartet that included his brother Martin on bass, and Jessica began cutting records in addition to taking the occasional part in a musical. There was never a moment when their careers took off, but slowly, steadily, they each built a substantial, praise-worthy life in music and acting.
John knows that he is never going to be as rich or as famous as Billy Joel. He says he is O.K. with that. Jessica still yearns for that breakout Broadway role. But if it doesn't happen, she says she'll be fine.
When she first came to New York, Jessica recalled the other day, her brother dropped her off and then drove back home to Connecticut.
"He told me recently that he felt so guilty leaving me there," she said. "He wasn't sure I was going to survive. And there were days when I wondered that myself. I remember going to an audition and thinking, 'If I don't get this job I'm going to die, because I only have a dollar to my name.' But guess what? I didn't get the job, and I didn't die. Kids get bailed out now," she added. "There is something to be said for the resolve it takes to make it on your own."
She thought about that for a minute. John, who was sitting next to her, looked over at her with a smile.
"There is something really lovely about putting one foot in front of the other," she said, finally. "You wake up one day and you have a nice career, and a 13-year-old daughter and a house in the country. There is something about the way you earned it that is gratifying."
Regis talks about seeing John & Jessica live. He mentions them around 7 1/2 minutes into the video.
MUSIC REVIEW - THE NEW YORK TIMES
Fusions in Song and Life
By STEPHEN HOLDEN
Published: November 6, 2011
Instead of science fiction, think of it as alchemy. That is one way to view John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey's brilliant new show, "When Worlds Collide," at the Café Carlyle. Their pairings of songs and voices from different eras and genres (the Beatles with Woody Herman, Antonio Carlos Jobim with Stephen Sondheim, and many more) are not destructive musical collisions in which planets explode. Instead of repelling each other, these alien climates, once in proximity, fuse, generate electricity and create an environment larger and more complex than the sum of its parts.
The same might be said of the chemistry between Mr. Pizzarelli, the jazz guitarist, crooner and wit, and his wife, Ms. Molaskey, a jazz-wise theater singer who deconstructs songs with a subtle but devastating psychological acuity. In personal terms "When Worlds Collide" might be described as a portrait of their marriage.
Consider the couple's exquisite melding of "Shine On, Harvest Moon" with Neil Young's "Harvest Moon" at Tuesday's opening-night show. Their voices and Mr. Pizzarelli's delicate guitar meshed and embraced to evoke a picture of longtime lovers stepping outdoors to dance in autumn moonlight and reaffirm their bond. Just as magical was a bossa nova arrangement of Billy Joel's "Rosalinda's Eyes" gently imparted by Mr. Pizzarelli, playing a Puerto Rican musician dreaming of his muse; it was attached to Mr. Sondheim's "In Buddy's Eyes," a wife's delusional certainty of how she appears to her husband, sung by Ms. Molaskey.
The most ambitious instrumental hybrid filtered the Allman Brothers classic "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" through Wes Montgomery's "Four on Six." The accompanying musicians included Larry Fuller, a pianist as fleet on the keyboard as Mr. Pizzarelli is on guitar, Martin Pizzarelli (the guitarist's younger brother) on bass and Tony Tedesco on drums.
In the light of his partnership with Ms. Molaskey, Mr. Pizzarelli's solo renditions of heavy-duty ballads like the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" and Mr. Sondheim's "Sorry-Grateful" took on a prayerful intensity. As he crooned "God Only Knows" in a near murmur, you listened more intently than you might otherwise to what the song is actually saying: "God only knows what I'd be without you." The Sondheim song, from "Company," describes the emotional ambivalence embodied in coupling: "You're sorry-grateful, regretful-happy." Mr. Pizzarelli's performances of both songs in his wife's presence conveyed a boyish plaintiveness.
Singing Paul Simon's "Hearts and Bones," a song about a traveling couple considering their uncertain future together, Ms. Molaskey was given the last word about the collision of two very different people. The tone was hopeful. "You take two bodies and you twirl them into one/Their hearts and their bones/And they won't come undone."
John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey perform through Nov. 26 at the Café Carlyle, 35 East 76th Street, Manhattan; (212) 744-1600, thecarlyle.com.
photo by Richard Termine for The New York Times
Minneapolis Star Tribune
How do you feel about "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" or the ever popular tune"Johnny One Note"?
Not your cup of pink lemonade? Well, they certainly aren't mine, untilJohn Pizzarelli takes over and sings the bejubies out of them. Yes, his name really is Pizzarelli and he is the guitar-playing son of the great jazz guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli.
The thing of it is -- John is a greatly entertaining guy, as he showed at the Dakota Jazz Club and Restaurant about a week ago. Now, I have known this and followed his career for some time, but so have lots of other people of all ages because they packed the place the night we were there.
The main thing about Pizzarelli is his choice of music. It might be considered odd by some of today's kids, but he is wonderful when he sings it. A tune by Bobby Troup, for example, "Lemon Twist," was nifty. I knew Troup and his most famous lyric, "Route 66," but"Lemon Twist" was new to me, and oh, so good.
"Sweet Lorraine,'' Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life" and a somewhat upbeat version of the old ballad "With a Song in My Heart,'' all scored for Pizzarelli. And although he agreed that he is not Sinatra -- that's the late Frank Sinatra, friends -- he sang Sinatra's "Nancy With the Laughing Face" with great care and much charm.
Pizzarelli and his trio of piano, drums and his brother on bass, seem to like Minneapolis and it showed. Among other things he said was that we have a "marvelous new baseball stadium.'' He added: "You took the roof off. It is great."
So it is and so is Pizzarelli -- who also raised the roof nicely. Let's hope he comes back soon.
John is featured in the April 2011 issue of Wine and Jazz magazine
Click here to read the article (PDF).
The New York Observer - October 20, 2010
Never miss a chance to see John Pizzarelli.
By Rex Reed
Read article (PDF)
MUSIC REVIEW
Lightens My Sadness, She Livens My Days
By STEPHEN HOLDEN
Published: October 6, 2010
Time warps, time lines and time signatures: as John Pizzarelli crooned Irving Berlin's "Count Your Blessings" with the tenderness of a father lulling a sleepless child, the voice of his wife and musical partner, Jessica Molaskey, slipped in behind him to sing Jonathan Larson's "Seasons of Love," from the musical "Rent."
Those songs from different eras both play with the notion of measuring time. And to hear them delicately woven into each other at the Café Carlyle at Tuesday's opening-night performance of their new show, "The Heart of a Saturday Night," was to confront a mystery. How long does it take to get from here to there? How long is long?
The Berlin standard speaks in a child's language about counting blessings instead of sheep as a technique for an insomniac to release anxiety and drift into dreamland. The Larson song attaches time to a number — "five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes," the number of minutes in a year — then throws up its hands. "How do you measure a year in the life?" it asks, then goes on to ponder the impossibility of quantifying love.
The mingling of the two songs is one of several brilliant juxtapositions in a show that lend it a philosophical dimension rarely encountered in a nightclub. There is a good-bad opening section that joins DeSylva, Brown and Henderson's "I Want to Be Bad" with Cole Porter's "It's Bad for Me," followed by the Gershwins' "Oh! Lady Be Good," and Richard Rodgers's "Something Good."
Stephen Sondheim's "You Must Meet My Wife" from "A Little Night Music" (sung by Mr. Pizzarelli), is joined to Joni Mitchell's "Conversation" (sung by Ms. Molaskey) to evoke his-and-hers views of relationships that are much more complicated than their first-person narrators realize. Ms. Mitchell's "Chelsea Morning" is attached to a Brazilian samba, "Aquelas Coisas Todas," that pumps it with adrenaline and carries it into the rain forest.
A swing section of the show, includes Basie and Ellington standards buoyantly swung by Mr. Pizzarellion guitar, his younger brother, Martin Pizzarelli, on bass; Larry Fuller on piano; and Tony Tedesco on drums. John Pizzarelli's signature scatting along with his guitar is more aggressive than before without losing its euphoric lightness. His version of "Satin Doll" (sung in a playfully seductive voice) was embellished with a melodic guitar solo that pushed the instrument's range and dynamics to its limits.
A word about Mr. Fuller: In his amazing gossamer piano solos, he sprinkles stardust on whatever song he plays; you hold your breath in wonder. The ensemble's seamless blend has a little more punch this year, thanks to Mr. Tedesco's samba and bossa nova beats in a program in which the sound of Brazil, mostly by way of João Gilberto, is a continuing undercurrent.
The couple's musical and psychological chemistry, in which they arrive from opposite places and affectionately stretch each other, is something to behold. Ms. Molaskey's emotionally edgy voice and interpretive acuity gives Mr. Pizzarelli's genial virtuosity a psychological context. Mr. Pizzarelli infuses Ms. Molaskey's theatrical style with swing and turns her into a jazz singer. Her version of the Tom Waits ballad "Drunk on the Moon," infused it a dreamy Beat euphoria reminiscent of Rickie Lee Jones.
It is not hyperbolic to say theirs is a musical match made in heaven; that is where this show will take you.
John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey appear through Nov. 6 at the Café Carlyle, at the Carlyle Hotel, 35 East 76th Street, Manhattan; 212 744-1600, thecarlyle.com.
John Pizzarelli: Swingin' The House Down
August 22nd, 2010 12:30 am
Thomas Cunniffe
Denver Jazz Examiner
There's something about touring with your own band. While economics and logistics sometimes prevent musicians from touring with a full group (and thus filling the ranks with local musicians), there is a special empathy present when an artist works with an entire group who knows the ensemble arrangements and knows each other's styles. John Pizzarelli proved this with a stunning set Saturday night at the Soiled Dove. Backed up by musicians who have worked with him for years--Larry Fuller (piano), Martin Pizzarelli (bass) and Tony Tedesco (drums)--the guitarist and vocalist led his group through a 2-hour set of tightly crafted arrangements. Although it was clear that the band was playing memorized charts, they played each tune as if it were the first time. They executed thrilling dynamic contrasts on a couple of the tunes and performed subtle nuances during a selection of Ellington songs.
Pizzarelli was quite the raconteur throughout the performance, setting up the football-related song "Jamboree Jones" with comments about audience members that he suspected would rather be at the Broncos game, and offering a stunning group of musical impersonations on an extended version of the song "I Like Jersey Best". He showed his mettle as a balladeer with a lovely medley of standard tunes, all performed with their verses. Starting the medley with a trio of Ira Gershwin lyrics, "They Can't Take That Away From Me", "I Can't Get Started" and "Love Is Here To Stay", he moved into "The More I See You" and by the time he got to "As Time Goes By", he could sense that the audience wanted to sing along, and he invited them to do so, reminding them of the lyrics right before they were to be sung.
By far, the highlight of the evening was the encore, an instrumental version of "C Jam Blues". Fuller started with an extended in-tempo unaccompanied introduction, and took the first solo after the theme statement. When the band kicked in, it was clear that they were ready to play! As the old saying goes, they could swing you into bad health, and when Pizzarelli took the solo spotlight, he burned with fiery intensity.
Performances like Pizzarelli's Denver show are what keep the older jazz styles alive and fresh. He knows how to entertain an audience with top-notch music, and his historical knowledge of all kinds of pop and jazz styles is quite impressive. It's easy to be optimistic about the future of jazz with musicians like Pizzarelli on the scene.
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin - July 22, 2010
Pizzarelli will reveal a different side at BU show
Jazz singer/guitarist will bring band from hit 'Ellington' tribute album
By Chris Kocher
ckocher@gannett.com
Staff Writer
A couple of years ago, John Pizzarelli teamed up with the Binghamton Philharmonic for a heartfelt tribute to the legendary Frank Sinatra and his songbook. Saturday night, local music fans will see a different side to the jazz singer/guitarist when he brings his Swing Seven to Binghamton University's Anderson Center. The combo includes the core musicians who made "Rockin' in Rhythm: A Tribute to Duke Ellington," an album that raced up the jazz charts after its release earlier this year... read full article
"Rockin' In Rhythm"/Cadence Magazine July 2010
John Pizzarelli has added his name to the long list of those who have mounted tributes to Edward Kennedy Ellington. His band, too, is stocked with the usual prospects, musicians likely to be conversant with the Ducal song book. Don Sebesky’s arrangements for what Pizzarelli calls his Swing Seven are functional and, perhaps, a bit on the obvious side, but frame the leader’s relaxed vocals tastefully and give Tony Kadleck and John Mosca opportunities for some smeary Ellington touches. Things pick up considerably on a non-vocal “C Jam” workout featuring some sturdy tenor from studio visitor Harry Allen and hot fiddle from Aaron Weinstein, who, though listed as a “guest” in the album’s personnel roster, is described as a “new team member” in Pizzarelli’s insert notes. Father Pizzarelli (Bucky to his friends and colleagues) has his solo moments on “Doll,” and the leader, his son, solos winningly on “Squeeze,” after which Jessica Molasky, the leader’s wife, joins with guest, Kurt Elling, for a vocal romp through Juan Tizol’s “Perdido” featuring some new add-on lyrics by the same Mrs. Pizzarelli. John’s vocal on “Too Soon” is a vocal highpoint: the Carl Sigman’s lyric remains one of the very best matched to an Ellington melody and this vocal is both tender and resolute. Harry Allen returns to play behind the leader’s “Got It Bad” vocal, and an exuberant medley of “Cottontail” and “Rockin’” brings proceedings to a very tidy, if somewhat Show-bizzy, close. Perhaps not a definitive Ellington tribute, but—nevertheless—most welcome.
Alan Bargebuhr
Pizzarelli, g, vcl, arr; Martin Pizzarelli, b; Tony Tedesco, d; Larry Fuller, p; Tony Kadleck, tpt; John Mosca, tbn, E-flat alto horn; Andy Fusco, as, cl; Kenny Berger, bari s, b cl; Don Sebesky, arr. Special Guests: Harry Allen, ts; Kurt Elling, Jessica Molasky, vcl; Bucky Pizzarelli, g; Aaron Weinstein, vln. No recording date(s) specified, New York, NY.
THE ANN ARBOR OBSERVER
Dear Mr. Sinatra: John Pizzarelli plays Power Center.
by James Leonard
June 9, 2010
John Pizzarelli is no Frank Sinatra--though he does play him on stage, as he will in the Power Center on June 30 as part of the Ann Arbor Summer Festival.
"Play" is the key word to understanding Pizzarelli. In the first place, not only is Pizzarelli no mean vocalist, he's also a virtuoso jazz guitarist, and over the past thirty years, he's played as well as sung his way through a big chunk of the Great American Songbook, the mythical collection of the greatest American pop songs of the past century. Along the way, Pizzarelli's done discs of songs dedicated to particular singers or styles, including Dear Mr. Sinatra, his 2006 disc of tunes associated with the man from Hoboken, some of which he'll be doing here, along with tunes from his most recent disc dedicated to Duke Ellington.
"From Sinatra, we'll do 'How About You,' 'You Make Me Feel So Young,' and 'Ring-a-ding-ding,'" says Pizzarelli on the line from Manhattan, "and 'Satin Doll,' 'Don't Get Around Much Any More,' 'Mellow Tone,' and a bunch of others from Ellington." Of course, Pizzarelli won't be alone on stage. "My quartet's coming with me: my brother [Martin] on bass, Larry Fuller on piano, and Tony Tedesco on drums."
How would Pizzarelli compare himself to Sinatra as a singer? "I don't compare with Frank Sinatra as a singer," he answers immediately. "Nobody compares with Frank Sinatra. He could do anything; he could adjust his voice and his style to whatever song he was singing." How would Pizzarelli describe his voice? "It's more conversational, more like Nat King Cole. And with maturity"--he pauses to laugh and correct himself--"with age, it's gotten better. I have a better understanding of how to use it. When you're young, you have a tendency to take it for granted. Plus I understand the songs better now."
"Play" is also the key word in the sense of the fun, the feeling of sheer joy, that suffuses Pizzarelli's performances. Not that he's not serious: his craft is too polished and his relationship to his material too respectful for him to be flippant. But listening to Pizzarelli, one gets the sense he enjoys playing and singing, enjoys music, and, especially, enjoys life. This quality comes out most purely in Pizzarelli's uncanny ability to scat sing along with his guitar solos. No matter what giddy arabesques he weaves on the guitar, his tenor is right there with him. How the hell does he do it? "I don't know," he replies and laughs again. "The voice follows the guitar is all I can say. I learned it from [bassist] 'Slam' Stewart and [guitarist] George Benson, who was my hero when I was young. But I've been doing it for so long, I don't know how I do it anymore!"
http://arborweb.com/articles/dear_mr__sinatra.html
Photos from Jazz & Blues at Monmouth Park Racetrack, NJ
Downbeat Editors Choice
By Ed Enright
John Pizzarelli, Rockin' In Rhythm: A Tribute To Duke Ellington (Telarc)
Singer/guitarist John Pizzarelli, a master in the art of reinventing jazz classics, celebrates the music of Duke Ellington with his latest CD release. Like Ellington, Pizzarelli crafts his performances to spotlight the talents of his band members. In addition to a solo track of "Just Squeeze Me," four songs showcase his quartet—pianist Larry Fuller, bassist/brother Martin Pizzarelli and drummer Tony Tedesco—and seven tracks include the Swing Seven horns with arrangements by Don Sebesky. The CD also features guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli (John's dad), vocalists Kurt Elling and Jessica Molaskey, saxophonist Harry Allen and violinist Aaron Weinstein.
http://www.downbeat.com/default.asp?sect=reviews
June 8, 2010
From The New Yorker - Goings On About Town - Jazz and Standards
Blue Note - June 8 through 10 - The John Pizzarelli Quartet. Reaffirming the bond betwwen solid jazz and engaging entertainment, the guitarist and singer Pizzarelli is a welcome throw=back to a bygone era.
June 7, 2010
Music Review -- Jessica Molaskey-John Pizzarelli: Two treats in one
By Nelson Pressley
Why sing one song at a time when a little ingenuity will allow you to sing two? That was the approach over and over Friday night in the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater, where Broadway singer Jessica Molaskey and her husband, jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli, offered a cool collection of intriguing mash-ups.
George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," intricately plucked on a seven-string guitar and lightly crooned by Pizzarelli, melded into Molaskey's wistful delivery of "Killing Me Softly." Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Meditation," performed solo by Pizzarelli, segued seamlessly (and unexpectedly) into Billy Joel's "Summer, Highland Falls," with Molaskey bringing a honeyed tone to the melancholic mood.
The evening was presented as part of the Barbara Cook Spotlight series, a cabaret showcase for musical theater performers, but Pizzarelli and Molaskey really weren't interested in show tunes. The lone Stephen Sondheim selection ("Another Hundred People") was wrapped inside the vocalese patter of the jazzy "Cloudburst." "Small World" from "Gypsy" was the only musical theater number that stood on its own.
Still, why grouse? The musicianship was impeccable, with Pizzarelli leading his hot quartet (including his brother Martin on bass; their father is legendary jazz guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli) through arrangements that could be sinuous or scorching. The most interesting arrangement of the night didn't even involve Molaskey but featured Pizzarelli singing "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" as the band played "East St. Louis Toodle-oo," creating a gloomy, vaguely sinister and altogether fascinating sound.
Molaskey is a Broadway vet currently appearing in the musical drama "Sycamore Trees" at Signature Theatre, and her role on this evening was fitting in, not standing out. (The band is mid-tour -- Brazil is behind them, New York and Japan are ahead -- and they're sharp.) Molaskey, a solid singer with a reserved demeanor, and Pizzarelli, whose soft voice gets up and down the scale very well, shared melodies nimbly, and they communed particularly deeply as Molaskey sang Joni Mitchell's "I Had a King," accompanied by the low, resonant tones of Pizzarelli's seven-string.
Naturally, that tune was nestled in another one: Rodgers and Hart's "He Was Too Good to Me," and as the singers traded lines, the ginger counterpoint was exquisite.
Pressley is a freelance writer.
May 20, 2010
See John interviewed on station WCSH6. Click here.
May 18, 2010
John is number 1 on on JazzWeek! See chart.
John is on the cover of Jazziz. Click here to read.
April 15, 2010
Rockin' In Rhythm is #3 this week on the Jazzweek Jazz charts!
April 2010 : CD Review - JazzReview.com
John Pizzarelli, just coming off his current jewel box Rockin’ in Rhythm--A Duke Ellington Tribute, which is saturated with his signature groove , is laying out a fluid enigma of energized entertainment - in the name of jazz and Duke Ellington. His music sheets are a kaleidoscope of personalities with each spin. Never pressing down the same sway or attitude, Mr. Pizzarelli ... read full article
April 13, 2010 : CD Review - Where Y' At
The only time I ever saw the recently departed guitar legend and innovator Les Paul perform was in the mid 70s at my alma mater, Ramapo College of New Jersey. Playing alongside him that night was a relatively unknown but fast-rising fellow guitarist named Bucky Pizzarelli. Thirty-five years later, the acorn hasn’t fallen far from the tree as John Pizzarelli has followed in his now-famous ... read full article
April 12, 2010 : Rockin' in Rhythm review from The Viginian - Pilot
Throughout his rich career, jazz vocalist and guitarist has released several skilled and savvy tributes, to Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Richard Rogers and more. But "Rockin' In Rhythm", his tribute to the bluesy elegance of Duke Ellington could be his best homage yet...
read full article
April 9, 2010 : A Bit of Broadway Nestled Along a Lake
LOOK, there’s a daffodil,” said the singer and actress Jessica Molaskey, pointing delightedly to a scrap of yellow poking out of the ground outside the wood-and-stone weekend cabin here that she shares with her husband, the jazz guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli and their two children... read full article
March 30, 2010 : Rockin' in Rhythm
He's the captain of cool. It seems no matter which songs he performs, guitarist and vocalist John Pizzarelli always delivers a certain amount of dashing and debonair. Rockin' in Rhythm: A Tribute to Duke Ellington is no exception... read full article
March 25, 2010 : Rockin in Rhythm: A Tribute to Duke Ellington
Jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli has a penchant for covering the music of other jazz greats. And who can blame him; he does an impeccable job at it... read full article
February 25, 2010 : John Pizzarelli delivers: Singing guitarist goes on an Ellington kick
It's hard to imagine John Pizzarelli crooning "Satin Doll" while plunking away on a banjo instead of his seven-string guitar. But that's how he got his start... read full article
February 22, 2010 : John Pizzarelli, 'Rockin' in Rhythm: A Trubute to Duke Ellington'
Duke Ellington tributes are a dime a dozen. In fact, they're probably down to a nickel a dozen. So why would singer-guitarist John Pizzarelli give us yet another one? Because he knows how to do it, and Duke Ellington tributes are a dime a dozen. In fact, they're probably down to a nickel a dozen. So why would singer-guitarist John Pizzarelli give us yet another one? Because he knows how to do it, and because his is so incredibly infectious... read full article
November 11, 2009 : John Pizzarelli featured on Borders.com
Check out Borders.com's LIVE episode of John and Mitch Albom inside the studio. This video gives a fascinating look at how jazz musicians work together, a few stories from the Pizzarelli household, and some spot-on impersonations that include Bob Dylan and Billie Holiday.
Part of a renowned musical family, John Pizzarelli is one of the great jazz guitarists and vocalists working today. His bouncy, conversational singing style and reverence for the American songbook stands out on his latest album, With a Song in My Heart.
To watch this video, visit www.borders.com.
October 28, 2009 : John and Jessica in the NY Observer
October 26, 2009 : John and Jessica in the Huffington Post
September 20, 2009 : ALL ABOUT JAZZ - Radio Deluxe Live: The Pizzarellis Go to Tanglewood
Jazz programming on national radio stations--the stuff you still get in your car or in your home for free, not satellite radio--is a rarity. That's an unfortunate thing, because lack of exposure to the music is one of the main obstacles to growing the audience.
But there are some gems out there, where people can tune in on radio and hear good music. One of those shows, which appears to be gaining ground since its inception in 1992, is Radio Deluxe, a show that noted jazz guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli and his wife Jessica Molaskey host each week. It's a weekly show the couple has been doing since 2005, usually taped in their apartment "high atop Lexington Avenue" on Manhattan's east side. Except that they recently moved to the west side. Except, again, that on Sept. 5, the couple brought their show to the annual Tanglewood Jazz Festival in Lenox, Mass., and taped it before a large audience.
The Tanglewood Jazz Festival is not a stranger to radio show tapings. NPR's Peabody award-winning "Piano Jazz," hosted by Marian McPartland, had been part of the festival in recent years. But McPartland, 90, is not up to traveling much these days. Festival organizers decided to keep with the theme of having a radio show done live at Tanglewood.
It proved to be a great choice... read full article
September 10, 2009 : JAZZ.com - John Pizzarelli at Tanglewood
Owing either to the weather (gorgeous); the format (pleasant and amusing); his music (engaging, solid and polished); his dad (still playing metronomic rhythm and velvety solo guitar); or his Foxwoods commercial, John Pizzarelli was the biggest draw of the Festival. Broadcasting his "Radio Deluxe" show from "high atop the Berkshires," Pizzarelli, his wife, singer Jessica Molaskey, and preteen daughter Madeline, hosted a two-hour throwback to the days when his Bucky sat by the AM/FM to hear the latest swing... read full article
September 3, 2009 : DETROIT NEWS - Detroit International Jazz Festival 2009: Pizzarellis make jazz a family affair
There are jazz families, and there are the Pizzarellis.
Cabaret singer Jessica Molaskey, John Pizzarelli's wife, once described the family she married into as the "Von Trapp family on martinis." An apt description, considering that patriarch Bucky Pizzarelli played guitar on countless sessions for Frank Sinatra (and Dion and every rocker on the East Coast), was in Doc Severinson's "Tonight Show" orchestra and a regular on the jazz circuit.
Molaskey and Pizzarelli carry on the urban sophisticate tradition with a radio show, "Radio Deluxe," (you can hear it at john pizzarelli.com).
Read full article
September 2, 2009 : HARTFORD COURANT - Jessica Molaskey, John Pizzarelli Have 'Model Modern Musical Marriage'
Because of their breezy sophistication and extra-wry wit, the jazz power couple, Jessica Molaskey and John Pizzarelli, have become known affectionately as "the von Trapps on martinis," "the Nick and Nora [Charles] of cabaret" and the embodiment of "a model modern musical marriage."
When they perform together Saturday at 2 p.m. in a live version of their "Radio Deluxe" show at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival in Lenox, Mass., you can see how perfectly attuned they are with their simpatico sense of swing and natural-flowing, witty repartee... read full article
August 27, 2009 : RIVERHEAD NEWS-REVIEW - Pizzarelli plays Peconic Bay Winery: Jazz crooner 'couldn't ask for anything more' in a genre-preserving career
"From high atop Lexington Avenue, this is Radio Deluxe."
If you're a follower of jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli, the words broadcast every Sunday afternoon from public radio station WLIU are a welcome change of pace from the usual classic rock and dance party sounds emanating from the airwaves... read full article
August 12, 2009 : BROADWAY WORLD - Jessica Molaskey and John Pizzarelli Talk 'Radio Deluxe' & Tanglewood 2009
John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey are the epitome of the sophisticated urbane couple; a modern day, musical, William Powell and Myna Loy... read full article
July 31, 2009 : JAZZ WEEKLY - John Pizzarelli & Jessica Molaskey at Catalinas
The thing that is so enjoyable about taking in a set by the John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey (also known as the Rob and Laura Petrie of the jazz scene) is that they satisfy on so many levels... read full article
July 25, 2009 : SEATTLE TIMES - A Swell Double Date with John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey
They're sort of the George Burns-Gracie Allen of music, but with a gender switch from that late, revered comedy couple.
Guitarist and crooner John Pizzarelli is the zany Gracie of this pair. And his singer-actress wife, Jessica Molaskey, plays the calm, droll George Burns role to perfection in their act... read full article
July 23, 2009 : SEATTLE TIMES - John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey at Jazz Alley
Music has always been a family affair for jazz guitarist and vocalist John Pizzarelli. His dad is esteemed guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, with whom he has played and toured extensively. Brother and bassist Martin Pizzarelli is a permanent part of John's combo. But one clan member we haven't seen him perform with in Seattle yet is wife, Jessica Molaskey... read full article
June 30, 2009 : NEW YORK TIMES - JPQT Backs Steven Pasquale in debut at Feinstein's
Finding yourself drafted by the New York Giants the day after picking up a football for the first time was how Steven Pasquale described his one-night cabaret debut at Feinstein�s at Loews Regency on Sunday evening. The stress hardly showed... read full article
June 3, 2009 : ALL ABOUT JAZZ CD Review By Andrew Velez - PIZZArelli Party The Arbors All Stars | Arbors Records
In his notes for this celebration of jazz and mostly fellow family musicians, John Pizzarelli observes, "Everyone in this group has had a moment where they knew what they wanted to do and how and what they wanted to play." High spirits are evident throughout this romp, mostly recorded in a take or two, without charts for the standards, lending an infectious air of spontaneity to the proceedings... read full article
May 22, 2009 : OMAHA WORLD HERALD - Song stylings make Pizzarelli an original
Guitarist John Pizzarelli's concert Thursday night at the Holland Performing Arts Center left me with two distinct impressions.
First, that all great singers are of Italian ancestry. And second, that all of them, at one time or another, lived in New Jersey.
Pizzarelli, a Jersey native through and through, was in Omaha to sing the songs made famous by another Italian-American denizen of New Jersey: Frank Sinatra.
"This is going to be a tribute to that other great Italian singer from New Jersey" is how Pizzarelli put it... read full article
May 21, 2009 : OMAHA WORLD HERALD - John Pizzarelli's got Sinatra under his skin
John Pizzarelli's big passion in high school was baseball.
"I kept trying out for teams but never made it," he said in a recent phone interview. "It eventually dawned on me that there was a reason I kept going to band practice."
Pizzarelli may have struck out in baseball, but he hit a home run in guitar, the instrument he'll use to lead tonight's concert at the Holland Performing Arts Center... read full article
May 14, 2009 : CENTRAL JERSEY - Under His Skin
John Pizzarelli knows exactly how to jazz things up in full swing. Among the prime contemporary interpreters of the great American songbook, this well-loved jazz guitarist, vocalist and bandleader brings his own distinct flavor to classic standards and late-night ballads...
Read full article
May 13, 2009 : MONTREAL - John Pizzarelli receives 2009 Ella Fitzgerald Award
John Pizzarelli is the 11th artist to receive the Ella Fitzgerald Award, established in 1999 by the Festival of Jazz of Montreal... read full article
May 7, 2009 : PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE - Jazz man John Pizzarelli keeps music in the family
The Great American Songbook has been taken off the shelf. Harmonically sophisticated and lyrically polished songs from the '30s, '40s and '50s, composed by Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Harold Arlen and many others, are once again popular music. Jazz guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli, who was born in 1960, pegs the start of the revival to Linda Ronstadt's three recordings of standards in the early '80s... read full article
May 7, 2009 : HARTFORD, CT - 'Radio Deluxe' Goes On The Road To Tanglewood Jazz Festival
John Pizzarelli will bring his "Radio DeLuxe" radio show to Tanglewood.
Along with its usual all-star fare, The Tanglewood Jazz Festival on Labor Day weekend, Sept. 4-6, offers something a bit different with the live taping of John Pizzarelli's and Jessica Molaskey's nationally syndicated radio program, "Radio DeLuxe."... read full article
May 6, 2009 : PITTSBURGH, PA - Guitarist-singer finds inspiration in Cole, Sinatra, Beatles
John Pizzarelli is darned certain some listeners look at him as having two sides: one as a guitarist and the other as a singer.
But that is not what he wants them to see.
"I don't distinguish between the two," he says, talking about the amount of time he spends on each side. "I don't think I want either to stand out."... read full article
April 26, 2009 : NEW YORK TIMES - A Life Lived on the Side: A Profile of Larry Fuller
To make a steady living as a jazz musician is in itself no mean feat, and Mr. Fuller has done so his whole life. His experience offers some insight into the requirements for survival as a working artist, especially in a specialty like jazz where fame and fortune are not realistic goals. Talent most certainly helps, but single-mindedness, passion, humility and the ability to live modestly seem critical too... read full article
April 12, 2009 : ST LOUIS POST DISPATCH - Pizzarelli to Headline Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival
Of particular interest is Pizzarelli, who will be heard in two settings: performing songs from his album "Dear Mr. Sinatra" (2006) with the Jazz Ensemble; and playing selections from his latest disc, "With a Song in My Heart," with his quartet. As on the album, Pizzarelli will be accompanied by his brother Martin Pizzarelli on bass, Larry Fuller on piano and Tony Tedesco on drums... read full article
April 2, 2009 : NEW YORK TIMES - Birdland review: Jazz-Pop With a Couple's Repartee
Jessica Molaskey and John Pizzarelli added a delicious flavor to their deluxe line of theatrically savvy pop-jazz at Birdland on Tuesday evening. The new element giving an extra texture to a largely retrospective program headlined by Ms. Molaskey - who was supported by her husband, Mr. Pizzarelli, on guitar, and by his band (Larry Fuller on piano; Martin Pizzarelli, his brother, on bass; and Tony Tedesco on drums) - was Aaron Weinstein's violin... read full article
March 19, 2009 : ATLANTIC CITY MONTHLY - Cover Story
JOHN PIZZARELLI ON THE COVER OF ATLANTIC CITY WEEKLY
John Pizzarell would seem to be a natural for Atlantic City. The vocalist-guitarist is a swingin' jazz cat, who has a sincere appreciation for a bygone era in which Frank Sinatra was king. However, more than a decade has passed since Pizzarelli, who.ll be 49 in April, has played A.C... read full article
