Home » Jazz Articles » Interview » John Pizzarelli: A Tribute to Duke Ellington
John Pizzarelli: A Tribute to Duke Ellington
John Pizzarelli is a man of many talents. Singer, guitarist, bandleader and arranger, depending on the circumstances Pizzarelli can step into any or all of these roles and perform at the highest level. Coming from one of the most successful families in jazz, his brother [Martin Pizzarelli] being an accomplished bassist and father the legendary seven-string guitarist 
Bucky Pizzarelli
guitar1926 - 2020
Duke Ellington
piano1899 - 1974
The 12 tunes chosen for the record represent the diverse nature of Duke's work as a composer. There are well-known favorites such as "In a Mellow Tone" and "Satin Doll," as well as some lesser played gems like "All Too Soon" and "Love Scene." Besides the variety of compositional material on the album, one of its greatest attributes is the different textures and timbres that Pizzarelli and company explore on the record. Whether it's the skillfully crafted horn arrangements by legendary arranger 
Don Sebesky
arranger
1937 - 2023
Kurt Elling
vocals
b.1967
While Pizzarelli's name may be on the cover of the album, the guitarist and vocalist has surrounded himself with a cast of world class musicians on Rockin' in Rhythm. Joining him is his current -working quartet—bassist Martin Pizzarelli, drummer Tony Tedesco and pianist Larry Fuller—at the top of its game throughout the album, along with memorable guest spots by saxophonist 
Harry Allen
saxophone
b.1966
All About Jazz: Duke Ellington means many different things to many different jazz musicians. Some people love him for the hard swingers, others for the moody ballads, and everything in between. What is it about Duke's music that speaks to you and inspired you to record solely his compositions for your album Rockin' in Rhythm?
John Pizzarelli: I think a Duke Ellington record, for me, is something that's always been in the pipeline. I always have two or three ideas for what's going to be on the next record, and a few years back we almost did a big band record of Duke's material, but it ended up being the 
Frank Sinatra
vocals
1915 - 1998
John Clayton
bass
b.1952
I think coming off the Rogers record, doing some tracks with horns and knowing what that sound was going to be, it really set things up nicely to have this album be recorded in a similar manner to the Rogers record. We also knew that with Duke's music we could have more leeway jazz-wise, in a sense. We could look at instrumentals; I could do a guitar solo; it's just a whole other landscape than all of the other records I've done.
AAJ: Because Duke has such a vast catalogue of material, were there tough decisions that had to be made when it came time to narrow down the album to just twelve tunes from the many decades of Duke's output?
JP: I think that's the case with any record. It's always a problem to find a good combination of well-known songs and more unusual tunes. I think we had a nice mix here with songs like "Love Scene" and then "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" inside "Don't Get Around Much Anymore."
The other thing that's good about this record is that we didn't always have to look for a good lyric when picking these songs because we could rely on the strength of his melodies as well. So I could play "Just Squeeze Me" as a guitar solo and not have to worry about finding lyrics for all of the tracks. Because Duke was such a strong instrumental writer we were able to do more instrumentals than we've done in the past, and that was fun for all of us to do.
AAJ: You included three medleys on the album and I'm wondering if it was tempting to do more, largely due to the depth of the material that you could have chosen to represent Duke on the album. How did you pick these particular medleys and was it tough not to add a couple more to the album?
JP: The medleys were definitely used as vehicle's for particular things. The "Cottontail-Rockin' in Rhythm" medley, for example, came about because I had heard Larry Fuller do a stride piano version of "Rockin' in Rhythm" in rehearsals. So I said to Don Sebesky, "What's the best way to use "Cottontail" to lead into "Rockin' in Rhythm?" I'm not sure who actually came up with the final idea of how to bring those two songs together, but I think the arrangement really came out well with Larry doing a great job on the stride intro to the second half of the medley.
With "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" and "Don't Get Around Much Anymore," I liked the idea of the minor key for the song and it was another way of preventing the album from being just one song after one song. Medley's provide another layer of variety, just like the different arrangements for each tune do.
AAJ: You mentioned Don Sebesky, who worked as the arranger for the album. You've worked with Don for a number of years now, what's it like working with Don behind the scenes when you bring him on board for a project like Rockin' in Rhythm?
JP: I've worked with Don now since '93 and we did our first record together in '96. The last two projects in particular were tremendously rewarding. He's a remarkably musical arranger and he's very creative. These are things that you of course want in an arranger, but he's also such a good friend of mine that we almost talk ahead of each other. We work so fast, it's hilarious.
It's so much fun working with a guy like Don, who knows our band as well as he does. I trust him so much, we think a lot a like and we just have a lot of fun working together. I wish the records would take longer to make. We get these projects done in a matter days, maybe a few weeks, and I wish they lasted six months we have so much fun together.
AAJ: You mentioned earlier your solo version of "Just Squeeze Me," which has a very improvised feel to it. Did you just sit down in the studio and run the tape or did you prepare parts, or all, of the arrangement beforehand?
JP: I knew I wanted one extra tune on the record and so I decided to do a guitar solo. I had recorded that tune before on a record with 
Ray Brown
bass, acoustic
1926 - 2002
There was one edit on the track at the very end where I go [sings ending riff to tune] ... I played it so cleanly on the first take that I decided to edit it into the final take and use it there. I'm giving away my secrets, but everybody does this stuff so there's no real secret [laughs].
That's a complete take on the record, minus the ending. Sometimes that's a bit of a fault of mine, that I like the way songs sound when I just sit down and play them all the way through. There's something that gets captured in those moments that I love to have on my records.
AAJ: It seems that solo jazz guitar playing seems to be sort of a lost art these days. In the past players like 
Lenny Breau
guitar
1941 - 1984
Ted Greene
guitar
1946 - 2005
Joe Pass
guitar
1929 - 1994
JP: I do think that there's an emphasis on single-note playing these days, where the harmonic approach to the guitar sort of gets lost. I also think that the industry is such that you don't really get that opportunity anymore. My father has released several wonderful solo records, and of course like you mentioned, guys like Joe Pass and 
George Van Eps
guitar
1913 - 1998
I think it's hard to put together a whole record of solo guitar. Back when these guys were recording an album was 40 minutes long, which is hard enough to fill with solid, solo-guitar playing. Nowadays, labels want 60, or even 80, minutes of music, which is almost twice as much as before. Forty minutes could be doable, but 60 or 80 minutes of making music by yourself is not an easy thing to do.
On that note, I've heard 
Russell Malone
guitar
1963 - 2024
Howard Alden
guitar and vocals
b.1958
AAJ: There seems to be a weird thing that happens in the jazz world when someone like you reaches the level of success that you've achieved. There's often a bit of a backlash from certain sections of the jazz community to artists like yourself, 
Diana Krall
piano and vocals
b.1964
Norah Jones
piano
b.1979
JP: Well I've never been cutting-edge jazz anyway, but I do think that I've been really surprised and pleased with the support I've gotten from the jazz community. It's been quite nice. The guys that are out there working, who we run into in airports, we all know how hard we're all working and we're supportive of each other.
My thing is to play standards and to come up with new and different arrangements of those great tunes. I'm lucky that I've been successful at it, and I think that the jazz community is a lot tighter than people may think it is, and they like to see success. To see Diana Krall or 
Harry Connick, Jr.
piano
b.1967
AAJ: Jumping back to your playing, one of the things that makes your performances fun to watch, and listen to on record, is when you scat along to your guitar solos. How did you develop that technique and what made you decide to feature it as part of your live performances?
From left: Bucky, John and Martin Pizzarelli
JP: Like any other good 16-year old would do, I tried to copy 
George Benson
guitar
b.1943
AAJ: Besides telling you to "Do that singing and playing thing," your father also got you into playing the seven-string guitar, for which he's famous for using. Do you always use the seven string when you perform or do you switch back and forth, especially when you're in a larger group setting?
JP: The seven string is my main instrument and it really comes out when I'm playing the intro to a tune like "Solitude." Over time I've learned when to use the low end and when to, as my brother Martin says, lay off my notes [laughs].
AAJ: Since you pretty much always play with a bassist do you have to watch how low you go on that seventh string to avoid getting things muddied up with the bassist?
JP: Yeah, I really have to watch that. When I did that record with Ray Brown, we were doing a tune and he turns to me and says, "You gotta give me some room—leave some notes for me [laughs]." I get so used to playing down there in that low register that I really have to watch.
Other times, like with one bassist I used to play with that lived up in the high register, kind of like 
Eddie Gomez
bass
b.1944
AAJ: Your brother, Martin, your father, Bucky, and wife, Jessica Molaskey, are all professional musicians. When you all get together for the holidays do you like to sing and play together, like many non-musical families do, or is that the time when you put the instruments down and just watch the football game?
JP: I don't think that we played that much this Thanksgiving, but over Christmas we have a sing-a-long that we've been doing it forever. We always like to finish up our family gatherings with music. We just play the fun songs and it's always been fun for us. When we want to do it we do it, when we don't we don't. It's usually a spontaneous thing.
Right before Christmas this year we had friends over and we started singing and before we realized it a neighbor came by and reminded us how late it was and it was probably time to stop [laughs].
AAJ: Your records tend to have a specific theme to them. Whether it's Duke Ellington, 
The Beatles
band / ensemble / orchestra
JP: Yeah, for me I like to pick one idea and go with it. I've made records that are collections of different songs from different composers but even then I like to try and tie them together somehow. The last five records have all had some sort of specific person or songwriter involved, so that's where I've been headed lately.
It's fun to think that if I want to go in this direction there are so many great writers and directions to choose from. It's almost a never ending source of inspiration and of course, great music.
Selected discography
John Pizzarell, Rockin' in Rhythm (Telarc, 2010)
Pizzarelli Family, PIZZArelli party (Arbors Records, 2009)
Jessica Molasky, A Kiss To Build A Dream On (Arbors Records, 2008)
Bucky and John Pizzarelli, Generations (Arbors Records, 2007)
John Pizzarelli, Dear Mr. Sinatra (Telarc, 2006)
John Pizzarelli, Bossa Nova (Telarc, 2004)
Ray Brown Trio, Some of My Best Friends are ... Guitarists (Telarc, 2002)
John Pizzarelli, Let There Be Love (Telarc, 2000)
John Pizzarelli, After Hours (RCA, 1996)
Stephane Grappelli
violin
1908 - 1997
John Pizzarelli, Dear Mr. Cole (Novus, 1994)
Harry Allen, Are You Having Any Fun?: A Celebration Of Sammy Fain (Audiophile, 1994)
Rosemary Clooney
vocals
1928 - 2002
John Pizzarelli, My Blue Heaven (Chesky, 1990 ) Photo credits
Page 1, 3: Courtesy of John Pizzarelli
Page 2: Jens Palm, courtesy of John Pizzarelli
Tags
Comments
PREVIOUS / NEXT
John Pizzarelli Concerts
John Pizzarelli
New Orleans Jazz MarketNew Orleans, LA
John Pizzarelli
New Orleans Jazz MarketNew Orleans, LA
John Pizzarelli Trio
Gateway PlayhouseSomers Point, NJ
John Pizzarelli Trio
New Orleans Jazz MarketNew Orleans, LA
John Pizzarelli Trio
New Orleans Jazz MarketNew Orleans, LA
Support All About Jazz
All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.
Buy Now
