with John Pizzarelli & Jessica Molaskey
Latest Show
Solo Pianos (5/24/2025)
More piano jazz this week. John has selected recordings of pianists playing solo, rather than with an ensemble. Featured are pianists such as Art Tatum, Bill Evans, Chick Corea, Teddy Wilson, and others. Other segments spotlight Bossa Nova music, some west-coast singers, and other deluxe favorites.
Program Notes
Marco Pereira Hamilton De Holanda - Pra Voce (Luz das Cordas)
Luciana Souza - Tim Tim por Tim Tim (Duos III)
Eliane Elias - So Danco Samba (Eliane Elias Sings Jobim)
Blossom Dearie - Moonlight Saving Time (Once upon a Summertime)
Chris Connor - Everything I've Got (A Jazz Date with Chris Connor)
June More piano jazz this week. John has selected recordings of pianists playing solo, rather than with an ensemble. Featured are pianists such as Art Tatum, Bill Evans, Chick Corea, Teddy Wilson, and others. Other segments spotlight Bossa Nova music, some west-coast singers, and other deluxe favorites.Christy - The Kentones, Get Happy (Get Happy)
Mel Torme - Lulu's Back in Town (The Bethlehem Years
Marty Paich - Martyni Time (The Picasso of Big Band Jazz)
Nat King Cole - Unforgettable (Live at the Blue Note Chicago)
Miles Davis - Venus De Milo (Birth of the Cool)
Art Tatum - I Know That You Know (Piano Starts Here: Live at the Shrine Zenph Re-Performance)
Bill Evans - When I Fall in Love (The Solo Sessions)
Chick Corea - It Could Happen to You (Solo Piano: Standards)
Ken Peplowski - After You've Gone (The International Allstars Play Benny Goodman)
The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orch. - What a Wonderful World (And So It Goes)
Matt Munisteri - We'll Have a New Home in the Mornig (The Lost Music of Willard Robison, Vol.1: Still Runnin' Round in the Wilderness)
Catherine Russell - I'm in the Mood for Love (Strictly Romancin')
Paul Novotny, Robi Botos - Darn That Dream (Look Ahead)
Dave McKenna - A Shine on Your Shoes (Cocktail Party)
Kurt Elling - And We Will Fly (Nightmoves)
Billy Eckstine, Sarah Vaughan - Now It Can Be Told (The Verve Masters 22: Billy Eckstine)
Teddy Wilson - Sunday (Solo Piano - The Kestone Transcriptions)
Shirley Horn - The Best Is Yet to Come (You're My Thrill)
Cy Coleman - Playboy's Theme (Bachelor Pad Royale)
Jenna Nicholls - Take Me out Tonight (Radio Parade)
Bob Wilber - Come Fly With Me (Horns A-Plenty)
Past Shows
Ellington, Elling & Ella (5/17/2025)
Duke Ellington, Kurt Elling, and Ella Fitzgerald are all artists that are played often on Radio Deluxe, but how often do all three get played in the same episode? Probably fairly often, but we just never noticed. Until today. Tony Bennett sings three Irving Berlin songs today, which should bring him some recognition, if we weren’t trying to be so cute with the marquee. Enjoy all the artists today, and watch for them all to be back again soon on our playlist.
New Pianists and Old Friends (5/10/2025)
Something old, something new is featured on every episode of Radio Deluxe. This week’s features new pianists Tyler Henderson and Isaiah J. Thompson along with many old familiar artists and song titles.
Triple Sets (5/3/2025)
John and Jessicca, famous for their double plays, today play several sets of three. For example, one record set contains three songs related to Benny Goodman, other sets contain three songs from the musical Oklahoma!, three songs that John learned to play on the banjo when he was young, and three songs popularized by Nat King Cole. Three is the magic number for the next two hours.
Mid April (4/27/2025)
Here we are, comfortably seated in the lower, left-hand corner of the April calendar, listening to John & Jessica enjoying a beautiful spring day at the Deluxe Cabin. Special features this week include a Mel Torme double-play, a double-play honoring arranger Don Sebesky, and a triple-play by John Pizzarelli.
Easter Weekend 2025 (4/19/2025)
It’s mid-April and Easter weekend, with beautiful spring weather. John and Jessica have invited the Sidran and Marsalis families to be part of their deluxe holiday activities, which also include many other favorite musicians and familiar songs. May you and your family have a happy Easter, or Passover, or Festivus for the rest of us!
April Love Songs (4/12/2025)
There are a lot of songs about April and, as we learn from Dave Frishberg, a lot of songs about Paris, and one very famous song about Paris in April. April is a soft month, popular on both sides of the equator and, apparently, conducive to love—and love songs set in April. And you’ll hear several songs about love and April (although not “April Love,” for some reason), but these April songs put you in a lovely mood.
On the Fantail with Kurt Elling (4/5/2025)
John & Jessica and Kurt Elling together went sailing, sailing over the bounding main. It was all part of a January 2025 deluxe sea adventure known as The Jazz Cruise. On the fantail, or somewhere near the espresso machine, they sit and talk jazz and then our hosts add just enough music to round out the show, before arriving safely back in port.
Cruising with Catherine Russell (3/29/2025)
John & Jessica are both friends and fans of singer Catherine Russell, who specializes in both jazz standards and rock back-up singing. When the three of them found themselves together on a ship earlier this year, with microphones and a recorder, they knew just what to do. And you’ll enjoy what they had to say and the music they play.
Spring Arrives (3/22/25)
Spring is finally here, a time when, in the words of Tennyson, a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love. That sounds like every week on Radio Deluxe, but today we also have songs of love…and songs of spring. Listen and your thoughts will likely turn light.
March Toward Spring (3/15/25)
It’s the busy, season-changing time of March. Lent began Wednesday, Monday is St. Patrick’s Day, Wednesday is St. Joseph’s Day (when the swallows return to Capistrano), and Thursday is the vernal equinox. So, we’re on our inexorable march to spring, heading to April, on the road to summer. John & Jessica see what’s coming and are beginning to make travel plans. It’s time to do the fun task of breaking out your spring wardrobe and to join John & Jess in celebrating this long-awaited time of year.
Jazzy March Birthdays (3/8/25)
John was able to think of a lot of great jazz musicians who were born in March, then gathered up a representative stack of their records. Jessica added more tracks to make the show complete. And we think it’s a show you’ll love to hear.
Celebrating Roberta (3/1/25)
A favorite of the baby boomer generation, Roberta Flack left us this week. John tells the story of how she, raised in Arlington, Virgina, was discovered playing in a club in Washington, D.C. Her first big hit went to number-one on the Billboard singles chart in 1971 when her version of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” was featured in the Clint Eastwood film Play Misty for Me. The song was written by British folksinger Ewan MacColl for his eventual wife, Peggy Seeger (half-sister to American folksinger Pete Seeger). Roberta had two more number-one records, with “Killing Me Softly with His Song” (by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel) in 1973 and “Feel Like Makin’ Love” (by singer-songwriter Gene McDaniels) in 1974. Her other top-ten hits were “Where Is the Love” (recorded with her Howard University classmate Donny Hathaway), “The Closer I Get to You” (also with Hathaway), and “Set the Night to Music.” Now join us as we celebrate pianist and vocalist extraordinaire Roberta Flack.
Old & New Tracks by Old & Young Artists (2/22/25)
On this last weekend of February, John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey mix artists who are currently active in the music scene with artists who peaked in bygone eras. Although most of the songs that are performed are indeed ageless. So all the tracks we hear mix together well, which is the magic of jazz.
Father-Daughter Weekend (2/15/25)
Jessica Molaskey has left the show in capable hands this weekend, as she rehearses for her upcoming show on Broadway. This week it's John Pizzarelli, with Madeleine Pizzarelli to the rescue. Maddie carries on the family tradition by personable, informed, and musically talented (as you will hear). Nor only is this is a three-day holiday weekend, but it's Father-Daughter Weekend here on Radio Deluxe.
Take Me Out to the Super Ball Game (2/8/25)
John Pizzarelli watches football during the season (even sings a song about it), but he'd tell you the real super game is baseball. And while this Super Bowl weekend marks the end of the NFL season, it also signals the beginning of MLB spring training games, which begin on February 20. To some staunch baseball fans, that's even more important than Super Bowl Sunday. Wherever you stand on the issue, John will try to help you transition from pigskin to cowhide this weekend with some favorite baseball songs, and several other random songs and stories.
Have A Fab Feb (2/1/25)
It wasn’t easy, but we’ve made it through the first month of 2025. Not without more than our share of casualties, however, along the way. Tragedy struck communities such as New Orleans, Pacific Palisades, Altadena, Nashville, Washington, and Philadelphia. But now it’s a new month, and let’s hope a fresh start. This week’s show, number 1001, will hopefully help lift your spirits with some pleasant songs and stories that remind us of those happier months gone by and those that are yet to come. Have a happy February!
A Thousand Broadcasts (1/25/25)
This is Show Number 1000 of Radio Deluxe with John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey. It all started a thousand weeks ago. If you do the math and go back to our first week, you’ll be at December 3, 2005. Our guests on that debut show were Ann Hampton Callaway, in Hour 1, and Tony DeSare. in Hour 2. We thank all the people who have made it possible for us to present two thousand hours of muisc, guests, and stories, but mainly you, the listeners. Our thanks to you for listening week after week and to those of you who enjoy the show enough to generously support our efforts.
Almost All Women Singers (1/18/25)
John Pizzarelli & Jessica Molaskey are back in the deluxe living room in their Manhattan apartment this week. Other than instrmentals, this episode features only women singers, except for a duet by Tony Bennett and Diana Krall, a Dave Frishburg song, and a track by Steven Pasquale, who got chosen for the closing number after identifying as simply another vocalist deluxe. This is Show Number 999 which, coincidentally, is also the last episode that President Joe Biden will be able to listen to in the White House, as he loves to do. We sincerely hope that he and you enjoy the show. (Pictured: Samara Joy)
The Bleak Midwinter (1/11/25)
It’s midwinter, known to many as the bleak midwinter because of an English poem by Christina Ressetti, first published 153 years ago this month. Originally titled “A Christmas Carol,” it was later set to music, under the title “In the Bleak Midwinter,” matching the first line of the verse. The bleakness of this time of year is probably due to the presence of snow, ice and cold, and the hibernating animals and migrating birds who are nowhere to be seen. But John and Jessica can always cheer us up, with good music, some laughs, and a cozy fire. Although John also selects the optional week-long, Caribbean jazz cruise.
Enter 2025 (1/4/25)
The year 2025 has arrived and most of us consider “the holidays” officially over (well, almost). Monday, January 6, is Epiphany, also known as Three Kings Day, Little Christmas, or the Twelfth Day of Christmas, which is all the days Christmas has. So actually, I guess you still have three days left to do some very last-minute shopping, but only if you’re shopping for drummers drumming, pipers piping, or lords a-leaping. Now we’ve started our next cheerful little year full of holidays, each associated with its own special songs, most of which you’ll hear on "Radio Deluxe" in the months ahead. We wish you happy holidays–every one of them–to every one of you!
Last Weekend of the Year (12/28/24)
It’s the last weekend of 2024, as we fast approach the start of 2025, which begins on Wednesday. And as the year changes, we not only look forward to better times ahead, but also back to our good times and old acquaintanaces that should never be forgotten. This is the time, as the words of Robert Burns suggest, “We’ll tak’ a cup o’ kindness yet, for auld lang syne.”
Christmas, Hanukkah & Kwanzaa (12/21/24)
Wherever you are and whatever holidays you’re celebrating, we hope the season brings you joy, peace, and love! And we hope our little radio program helps deliver all those things and whatever else you wish for throughout this and all the other seasons and throughout the year (there are songs about evey one of them, you know). We are very appreciative of all of you in the Radio Deluxe family, for your continued listening and your ongoing support. (Pictured is a deluxe family member: producer Don McCulloch’s two-year-old grandson, Henry, experiencing his first fun snowfall, on 12/21/24.) We wish you all a very merry, a most happy, and all the best to you and yours.
X Minus 10 (12/14/24)
Ten days from this program date is Christmas Eve, the silent night, holy night, and the night before Christmas, when a visitor who’s chubby and plump—a right jolly old elf—will make you laugh when you see him, in spite of yourself. And we, as he, wish “a happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!” And also maybe a few long winter’s naps along the way.
John & Jessica's Usual Routine (12/7/24)
It doesn't matter, the weather, or the location, John & Jessica don't venture too far from the formula: deluxe music, pleasant conversation, and many laughs. And you, of course. You contribute ideas and give the show a purpose. And thanks for that.
Thanksgiving Weekend 2024 (11/30/24)
Happy Thanksgiving! It started last Thursday, but it continues as long as the leftovers hold out. Thanksgiving this year is as late as it can ever be; so late, in fact, that December arrives while it’s still Thanksgiving weekend! The holiday is designated as the fourth Thursday of November (not the last, as it used to be). That means November 28th is the latest it can be. It can’t ever be on the 29th or 30th because those days are always the fifth occurance in the month for whatever days of the week they fall. In Canada, Thanksgiving is observed on the second Monday of October, so happy belated Thanksgiving to our many Canadian friends. Check your almanac for more details, but for now it’s on with the show ...
The Jones Boys (Jack and Quincy) (11/23/24)
We recently lost two greats from the deluxe music world: Jack Jones and Quincy Jones. They are both honored on this week’s program with their recordings and, in the case of Jack Jones, we replay the interview from when he visited John & Jessica in 2006. The name of this radio episode was inspired by a popular song, "The Jones Boy," a hit for the Mills Brothers in 1954 and a successful jazz album, The Jones Boys, recorded in 1957, that featured Thad Jones, on trumpet; Jimmy Jones, piano; Eddie Jones, bass; Jo Jones, drums; Reunald Jones, trumpet, and Quincy Jones, flugelhorn. Songs included "The Jones Bash" and "Jones Beach" (both written by Quincy Jones), "Blues for the Joneses" (by Thad Jones) and of course "Have You Met Miss Jones?" (Rodgers & Hart).
Quintessentials (11/16/24)
Here’s how the game is played: The radio host (call her Jessica) names an artist that is popular among Radio Deluxe listeners. The contestant (call him John, or use your own name) then tries to name the artist’s most quintessential song. The host then reveals the song she thinks is (or wishes were) the song most closely associated with the artist. If the contestant’s guess matches the host’s guess, the contestant wins! Every winner or loser or disinterested person then gets to—or has to, depending their viewpoint—listen to the song. It’s that simple. Spoiler alert: all the answers are listed below.
And the Days Grow Short (11/9/24)
We’re getting deeper into autumn. This second weekend in November is the first one after we set our clocks to standard time and the first one after the long-anticipated election. Both events are controversial, and many people insist that both took us back in time. Regardless of your opinion, John & Jessica provide us with music and conversation that will hopefully produce comfort and a positive outlook.
There's No Time Like November (11/2/24)
The month of November begins with All Saints’ Day, also kown as All Hallows’ Day (hallow meaning holy), a Christian holiday celebrating all of the church’s saints. The evening before the holiday is All Hallows’ Eve, better known as Halloween. November 2nd is All Souls’ Day, a celebration of all faithful souls who have gone before. In Mexico, they celebrate Day of the Dead, which is a two-day celebration that occurs on both November 1st and 2nd.
A major election is held every other November (always on the first Tuesday after the first Monday). And, of course, November always marks the start of our big holiday season that includes Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. Thanksgiving is celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday of November, which means that November 28th (when it is this year) is the latest it can ever be. So brace yourself, be sure to vote, and happy holiday season from all of us at Radio Deluxe!
As October Goes (10/26/24)
In the midst of their Carlyle run, John & Jess relax with some of their favorite records at one of their favorite places, the Deluxe Cabin by the lake. It’s the last weekend of October, when you might expect to hear Mercer and Manilow’s “When October Goes,” but we’re holding off on that song, just to keep you guessing.
Creel, Page, Schwatz & More (10/19/24)
John & Jessica pay tribute to two Broadway stars whom we recently lost: Gavin Creel and Ken Page. They both died on the same day, September 30, 2024. Gavin at age 48 and Ken at 70. John also got on the subject and songs by Arthur Schwartz after someone sent a letter correcting him about lyricist Dorothy Fields. John also brings up other songwriters, singers, and sidemen that lead to several other stories and songs, eventually closing the show with a final song by Gavin Creel. I think John calls that doing “the weave.”
The First Hint of Autumn (10/12/24)
Last week, it still felt like summer at the Deluxe Cabin. But since then, cooler nighttime temperatures have encouraged John & Jessica to discontinue swimming in the lake.The days are still pleasant, however, and our deluxe couple continues to enjoy sitting on the veranda, preparing meals, and playing music. Music on the show this week includes several young singers and some popular vocal groups.
Loesser and More (10/5/24)
It’s the first weekend of October and John & Jess find themselves at the Deluxe Cabin where they will be concluding their summertime activities (like swimming in the lake and buying veggies from the farm stand). Music listening is a year ‘round activity, however, and there will be plenty of that, of course, with a special focus on the songs of Frank Loesser, especially ones from his Broadway musicals Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Come join the lakeside fun!
Autumn In, September Out (9/28/24)
The season of autumn is on its way in as the month of September is on its way out, on this very same weekend – the last weekend of September and the first full weekend of fall.
Triple Treats (9/21/24)
John & Jess shine the spotlight on the multi-talented artists of stage and film. They are the ones who sing, dance, and act, and make the rest of us feel inadequate, until we realize it's a lot more fun and a lot less work to simply enjoy their talents. So this week we can enjoy hearing from Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Gregory Hines, Rosemary Clooney and others. It's a real treat. Often a triple treat.
Frishberg, Simon & Other Faves (9/14/24)
One of the things that John & Jess enjoy is to play sets of songs that have something in common, such as songs that share a subject, or songs by a particular performer, or songs by the same composer. Today, we’ll hear several songs written by Dave Frishberg and another set of songs written by Paul Simon that are all performed by women. And if you have your own idea for a song set, please feel free to let us know about it at info@radiodeluxe.com.
Summer in September (9/7/24)
This is the weekend after Labor Day Weekend, and yet it’s is our first show of September! It must be one of those Deluxe oddities. Officially, there are only three weekends left in Joh & Jessica’s summer, counting this one, and they are taking advantage of it by spending time at the lake, doing summertime things. Let’s go there now and have some waning summertime fun!
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