[Dixielandjazz] John Pizzarelli reviewed

[Robert Ringwald]

Pizzarelli Presents Engaging Slate of Standards
by Mary Kunz Goldman
Buffalo News, October 2, 2011
The jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli pulled into town Saturday to pay homage to the
great songwriter and Buffalo native Harold Arlen. And he did not stop there.
Pizzarelli threw a surprise set into the first half of the program, when he was not
scheduled to perform. Associate Conductor Matthew Kraemer, leading the Buffalo Philharmonic
Orchestra, had conducted the splashy overture to Gershwin's "Girl Crazy" and a few
entertaining Leroy Anderson numbers when he paused to mention a Duke Ellington Festival
the orchestra has planned.
Then he said that Pizzarelli, though not scheduled to play in the first half, had
said he and his trio had some fine Ellington charts, so could they play extra in
the first half?
Pizzarelli always appears to be enjoying himself. You can tell he is on the radio
-- he and his wife, cabaret artist Jessica Molaskey, have a show carried on Toronto
radio where, as he puts it, they talk and play records. In person, too, Pizzarelli
talks. I am not complaining. I could listen to him talk all night.
He told a bunch of stories Saturday. They were all funny, but one especially good
yarn concerned how Frank Sinatra spoke only five words to him in the dozen or so
shows where Pizzarelli was the opening act. (The five words, for the record, were:
"Eat something. You look bad.") We also heard how before singing "One for My Baby
(And One More for the Road)" Sinatra would light a cigarette and set his drink on
the piano. Shocking, in this day and age! Imagine that on the Kleinhans stage.
The stories were a good foil for the bittersweet music.
Arlen's songs, often set off by Johnny Mercer's wistful lyrics, are peculiarly full
of the blues. The gloriously evocative "One For My Baby" got a beautiful treatment
Saturday. Pizzarelli sang it softly, not doing anything special with it, just taking
his cue from the song's natural rhythms and words. He knows how to use his thin,
guileless, unconventional voice to best advantage.
"That Old Black Magic" was similarly quiet, haunting in a way. "Over the Rainbow"
began with a disorienting reharmonization, but settled nicely into something more
familiar. Pizzarelli puts the song first, not doing anything that would take your
attention from it. "Get Happy" was the most lighthearted song of the night. It had
a lightning-quick guitar solo and a lightning-quick piano solo.
Pianist Larry Fuller was great for Pizzarelli's purposes. He doesn't steal the show,
but he plays gracefully and in the spirit of the song. In "Paper Moon," which paid
tribute to the famous recording by the Nat "King" Cole Trio, he hinted at Cole's
beautiful, polished style. Pizzarelli's trio, light on the drums, does a wonderful
job of imitating that Cole Trio sound. Completing the trio were the talented and
discreet drummer Tony Tedesco and, on bass, Martin Pizzarelli, John Pizzarelli's
brother. Their dad, Bucky Pizzarelli, must be proud. John Pizzarelli is blessed with
these players. They join him in his mission of putting the song first.
The BPO got to sit out entire numbers, and it was often easy to forget the orchestra
was there. However, the brass, particularly trombones, added a special thrill to
some of the Ellington songs, like "Perdido." Fuller added to it too, with a touch
of that plink-plunk Ellington sound. Pizzarelli took a creative approach to this
music. "In a Mellow Tone" was a delight. About "Don't Get Around Much Any More,"
I'm not sure it fit well with "East St. Louis Toodaloo," but it was an interesting
idea, and thanks, John Pizzarelli, for presenting it as the sad song he explained
that it is. "I'm Beginning to See the Light" was vigorous and had many in the good-sized
crowd tapping their feet.
-30



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

I hate all this terrorist business. 
I used to love the days when you could look at an unattended bag on a train or bus and think to yourself
"I'm going to take that."