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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Pizzarelli clan breathes fresh life into classic jazz tunes

By: Chris Smith

Posted: 11/23/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

SOMETIMES you can go home, musically if not physically.

In the Pizzarelli home, music was the thing, be it swing or the Great American Songbook composed by the likes of the Gershwins, Berlin, Rogers and Hart, or Rogers and Hammerstein, led by papa Bucky Pizzarelli, the great guitarist.

Saturday night, in the first of three weekend concerts, guitarist John Pizzarelli took his audience home to that great music tradition, and to the joys of swing guitar played well.

The John Pizzarelli Quartet -- John on seven-string guitar, brother Martin on bass, Tony Tedesco on drums and Larry Fuller on piano -- is a tight, tight band.

Guest violinist Aaron Weinstein might as well have grown up in the Pizzarelli household. He and John reprised Stringin' The Blues, a tune recorded by Bucky and the renowned jazz violinist Joe Venuti. It still sounds fresh.

Weinstein played three duo numbers with Pizzarelli before easily sliding into a role with the band.

The tunes in the two-hour show were familiar: You Make Me Feel So Young, I Got Rhythm (with a great guitar/scat intro), George Harrison's Here Comes The Sun, They Can't Take That Away From Me, Lady Be Good, and Honeysuckle Rose, apparently the one song you must know how to play to be a member of the extended Pizzarelli clan.

And while they may not be the fare of the newest, hippest jazz performers, they are classic tunes that stand the test of time and that continue to entertain audiences. And Pizzarelli unabashedly plays them, making them sound vibrant, even as they offer a comfort zone of familiarity. A crack band helps, and pianist Fuller stood out as second soloist to Pizzarelli.

Bassist Martin took the spotlight on You Be The Judge, a tribute to the great jazz bassist Milt Hinton, who liked to call everyone judge.

Repertoire aside, Pizzarelli is very adept guitarist whose sense of swing -- whether genetic or modelled from Bucky -- is a gift.

Pizzarelli brings a sense of a New York City nightclub with him in his easy stage manner and humorous patter. He had the audience laughing at a dead-on impersonation of Gordon Lightfoot singing the Stars and Stripes, "part of our Canadian content," along with references to the Winnipeg Jets.

But, ultimately, it's about the music and this Pizzarelli generation's mastery of it.

chris.smith@freepress.mb.ca

Concert Review

John Pizzarelli Quartet

Izzy Asper Jazz Performances

Berney Theatre, Nov. 21

4 stars out of 5

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 23, 2009 B9

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