[Dixielandjazz] John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey interviewed

[Robert Ringwald]

Married to Music
by Robert Sokol
San Francisco Examiner, March 11, 2011
She's flying in from Portland rehearsals with Dave Frishberg and he's coming off
a recording session, but when longtime couple Jessica Molaskey and John Pizzarelli
return home from their two concerts at the Fairmont's Venetian Room this weekend,
they will enjoy a rare treat.
"We'll actually sit next to each other on the flight home from San Francisco," says
Pizzarelli, adding, "and without a child between us!"
Molaskey already had credits in shows like "Les Miserables" and "The Who's Tommy"
and Pizzarelli was a well-established guitarist and recording artist when they met
on Broadway in the 1990s.
Both were in the cast of the Johnny Mercer tribute show "Dream" with the late Margaret
Whiting, who knew right away something had sparked. "She said, 'Jessica... every
time you walk by that man your face gets all red!'"
Music abounds in the Pizzarelli family. John's father Bucky is a noted jazz guitarist
and brother Martin is a bassist. Between his own releases and collaborations with
both his wife and his father, Pizzarelli has been a principal artist on 40 albums
in the past 30 years. He's credited as a contributor to more than 100 more.
"If John has a day off in New York City he goes and plays... on someone's record,"
Molaskey jokes.
Molaskey, who toured her first Broadway show here at the Curran Theatre, is particularly
excited to be playing the Venetian Room. "I saw Oscar Peterson there back in the
'80s," she says. "It was the first time I ever went to San Francisco."
The lineup of their show here is still being decided. "Which one are we doing, John?"
she asks politely. "Well, we can do whatever you feel like doing, Jess," he replies
obligingly. It's not a lack of planning on their part, but an overabundance of material.
"We have a bit of an embarrassment of riches these days because we haven't played
San Francisco in quite a while," says Molaskey.
Like fine wine with good food, a recent trend for them has been pairings of songs
that Molaskey says answer each other. "I'll play 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'"
says Pizzarelli. "Then I'll sing 'Killing Me Softly,' which is from the perspective
of someone watching someone playing the guitar," Molaskey finishes.
"We never script a show," says Molaskey. "We both come from such different places
in terms of approaching the music and we put it through our individual filters and
hope that it comes out in a way that people like." Adds Pizzarelli, "It's really
52nd Street meets 42nd Street."


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

My wife was hinting about what she wanted for our upcoming anniversary.
She said, "I want something shiny that goes from 0 to 150 in about 3 seconds."
I bought her a bathroom scale.