[Dixielandjazz] Jonathan Schwartz tribute reviewed

[Robert Ringwald]

Saluting a Radio Man Who's One of a Kind
by Stephen Holden
New York Times, July 15, 2011
"He put us all on the map. Without his support, you'd be looking at an empty stage."
Variations of those words, voiced by the guitar whiz, singer, wit and raconteur John
Pizzarelli were echoed again and again on Wednesday evening at Rockefeller Park where
he and his wife, the singer Jessica Molaskey, hosted "All in Good Time: a Celebration
for Jonathan Schwartz," as part of the River to River Festival.
Mr. Pizzarelli's gratitude to Mr. Schwartz, the New York radio personality whose
shows are the premier local outlets for the classic American songbook as interpreted
by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Tony Bennett, was accompanied by some good-natured
ribbing. An uncanny mimic, Mr. Pizzarelli delivered dead-on impersonations of the
honoree's intimate, seductive purr, which settles in your ear like a moist breath.
Within his benign cultural fief, Mr. Schwartz is a star maker, whose passion for
the most arcane details of popular musical history is boundless. As he transports
you into his world, events of 60 years ago assume the urgency of breaking news. At
the same time he is an ardent, outspoken champion of younger pop and jazz performers
who continue the tradition.
The two-and-a-half hour show was an outdoor gathering of his flock, both onstage
and off, as Mr. Pizzarelli led the audience in humorous call-and-response renditions
of standards to which everyone seemed to know the words. Although that flock was
briefly scattered by a sudden shower sweeping across the Hudson, once the rain passed,
it quickly regrouped.
A sub-theme of the evening was the music of Jonathan's father, the composer Arthur
Schwartz, whose melodies ("Dancing in the Dark," "You and the Night and the Music,"
"I See Your Face Before Me") dominated the repertory.
As Mr. Pizzarelli and Ms. Molaskey tossed off a playful duet of Irving Berlin's "The
Best Things Happen While You're Dancing" and Bobby Troup and Jerome Leshay's "Nice
Girls Don't Stay for Breakfast," that ended with Ms. Molaskey cracking, "Pass me
the jam," it was abundantly clear why they are the supreme nightclub duo of our time.
Amid the dancing in one song that led to the romancing in the other, Ms. Molaskey
slyly inserted another Berlin fragment, "there may be trouble ahead," signaling that
nice might turn into deliciously nasty.
Other high points included Ms. Molaskey's rendition of Arthur Schwartz and Dorothy
Fields's smart, perky "Happy Habit;" and the Sinatra acolyte Tony DeSare's hard-swinging
"All I Need Is the Girl" (from "Gypsy"). The Oregon jazz singer Rebecca Kilgore's
"Penthouse Serenade" rippled with sunshine, and Tierney Sutton's "Beautiful Love"
became a tender exercise in expressive tonal coloration that she seemed to model
with her hands.
The bassist Jay Leonhart's original songs "Bass Aboard a Plane" and "Louie Bellson,"
both funny, excruciating true stories about the unpredictable hazards facing a working
musician, produced roars of laughter. Mr. Pizzarelli's duet with the hot young jazz
violinist Aaron Weinstein infused the Joe Venuti instrumental "Stringing the Blues"
with a frantic, maniacal verve.
The guest pianists Bill Charlap, Lee Musiker and Tony Monte -- all had to cope with
amplification that made the acoustic grand piano sound metallic and dynamically inert.
Of the three Mr. Charlap made the most headway. But the musicality itself was impeccable.
Mr. Schwartz, now 73, used to host a satellite radio program called "High Standards."
That title not only describes his musical taste, it evokes the many reasons he is
an irreplaceable New York institution; he is sui generis.


--Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
Fulton Street Jazz Band
530/ 642-9551 Office
916/ 806-9551 Cell
Amateur (Ham) Radio K6YBV

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