[Dixielandjazz] John Pizzarelli at Feinsteins in NYC

[Steve barbone]

Bucky's son and the American Songbook are doing well on the cabaret scene.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

 
John Pizzarelli at Feinstein's: Have Guitar, Will Entertain
Cabaret Review - NY TIMEWS - By STEPHEN HOLDEN - May 4, 2006

To observe the singer and guitarist John Pizzarelli in a pensive musical
moment is a little like watching the class clown squirm in his Sunday best
as he tries to keep a straight face during a church service.

It's not that Mr. Pizzarelli doesn't make deliciously soothing sounds when
he plucks his guitar lightly and croons a ballad like the James Taylor
standard "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" or a sultry bossa nova rendition
of Stephen Sondheim's "I Remember." It's that he radiates from every pore a
sense that these sober interludes are breaks for him to catch his breath
before the party, of which he is the life, resumes.

A master guitarist, connoisseur of songs, mimic and storyteller, he embodies
the concept of fluidity: everything comes out of everything else. His
artistic headstream is his guitar; it is his alter ego, his ventriloquist's
dummy, his best friend and his spiritual connection rolled into one.

The high points of any Pizzarelli concert are the moments when he and his
instrument fuse in a machine-gun fire of single-note riffs simultaneously
picked and vocalized. As the voice and guitar hurtle together in a
neck-and-neck race to the finish line, his singing acquires the inflections
and accents of the instrument driving it.

The most spectacular of several speedway dashes at Tuesday's opening-night
show at Feinstein's at the Regency was an "Oh, Lady Be Good!" that infused
this Gershwin standard with the same ebullience Ella Fitzgerald used to pour
into it, but in a different style. Much of the material was taken from
albums Mr. Pizzarelli has recorded over the last 15 years but had not
performed before at the club.

His quartet includes Larry Fuller on piano (replacing Mr. Pizzarelli's
longtime musical partner Ray Kennedy, who left to form his own group), Tony
Tedesco on drums and Martin Pizzarelli on bass.

For those of us who take life much too seriously, the show, "Some Nice
Things I've Missed," is essential therapy. It imparts a glow you won't find
in a doctor's office or in a medication, spring break with the kind of
hangover you wish would linger.

John Pizzarelli continues through Saturday at Feinstein's at the Regency,
540 Park Avenue, at 61st Street; (212) 339-4095.