John Pizzarelli Quartet

John Pizzarelli Quartet

Birdland, NYC, February 16, 2016

Reviewed by Ron Forman for Cabaret Scenes

When you combine John Pizzarelli’s amazing ability on guitar, his pleasant singing voice and ability to tell funny stories with three great jazz artists—Konrad Puskudzki (piano), Kevin Kanner (drums) and Mike Carr (bass)—you get 90 solid minutes of entertainment. The material was an eclectic mix that included numbers by Duke Ellington, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Paul McCartney.

Pizzarelli opened with a lightly swinging “Love Scene” that featured a lengthy solo on guitar. He did a very nice vocal on the Ellington/Billy Strayhorn/Johnny Mercer “Satin Doll,” followed by “In a Mellow Tone” (Ellington/Milt Gabler). Pizzarelli related a funny story about Gabler, who was an executive at Concord Records and was Billy Crystal’s uncle. Because of Gabler, Louis Armstrong was invited to Crystal’s bar mitzvah, whereupon one of Crystal’s aunts asked Satchmo, “Have you tried clearing your throat?”

Pizzarelli’s fingers appeared to move magically on a guitar solo of the Ellington/Les Gaines “Just Squeeze Me (But Don’t Tease Me).” He then followed with (in his words) a depressing “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” (Ellington/Bob Russell).

There were also some amusing stories about working with Paul McCartney, after which Pizzarelli performed “We Three (My Echo, My Shadow and Me),” which he and his dad, Bucky, recorded with McCartney. The quartet performed two post-Beatles McCartney songs (written with Linda McCartney), “Heart of the Country” and “Silly Love Songs,” before ending with a very boisterous version of the songwriters’ “Let ‘Em In,” which gave Pizzarelli the opportunity to show that he could scat with the best of them. His surprising encore was a very soft and moving “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught,” (Rodgers and Hammerstein, South Pacific).

Tags: American Songbook, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Bar Mitzvah, Beatles McCartney, Billy Crystal, Billy Strayhorn, Birdland, Bob Russell, Broadway, Broadway Musicals, Bucky Pizzarelli, Cabaret, Cabaret Reviews, Cabaret Scenes, CD, Clubs, Composers, Concord Records, Don't Get Around Much Anymore, Duke Ellington, Great American Songbook, Heart of the Country, In a Mellotone, Jazz, Jazz Singers, John Pizzarelli, John Pizzarelli Quartet, Johnny Mercer, Just Squeeze Me (but Please Don’t Tease Me, Kevin Kanner, Konrad Puskudzki, Les Gaines, Louis Armstrong, Love Scene, lyricists, Mike Carr, Milt Gabler, Musicals, Musicians, Nightclubs, NYC, Paul McCartney, Popular Song, Revues, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Ron Forman, Satchmo, Satin Doll, Show Tunes, Silly Love Songs, Singers, Someone’s Knocking at the Door, Songbook, South Pacific, Standards, Supper Clubs, Venues, Vocalists, We Three, You've Got to Be Carefully Taught"

Category: Cabaret Reviews, New York City, New York City Cabaret Reviews