John Pizzarelli on the sofa

[Russell Letson]

He's been doing cocktail-hour mini-concerts for several weeks--live on Facebook but preserved for later viewing. He's not only a crackerjack player but charming as all get-out. Wife Jessica ain't bad, either. Mostly standards, with stories about his old man and his buddies. Watching his hands makes me want to play, despite recognizing the futility of it all. This week's:

www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial/videos/428407241387174/?sk=h_chr

[TKennedy]

Thanks Russ. At his Dakota concert all the wives that were dragged there kicking and screaming by their jazz loving significant others left goo goo eyed.

[millring]

I've been watching and enjoying these in real time. As much as I admired him -- his playing and persona -- before (and he's long been a favorite), I admire him even more after weeks of witnessing these informal "concerts".

[Shannon]

Boy, he makes it look easy.

If only it were so.

[Russell Letson]

What's so hard about making sure that you're born into a multigenerational musical clan, being tutored by a genius father, starting to perform as a teenager*, hanging out with Zoot Sims, Les Paul, and Rosemary Clooney, and spending the next forty years gigging around the world?

* He half-jokes that he played jazz to support his rock habit.

[TKennedy]

Smiling and looking like you are having fun while you play and sing is SO important and SO hard to do without thinking about it.

Of course when you think about it you forget what you are playing or singing and it looks phony .

I think it has to come from within somehow. Probably helps to be Italian

[Russell Letson]

John's stories about growing up in a household where everybody played and sang (which also describes Bucky's growing up) and where Zoot Sims might drop in remind me of similar stories I heard about the Pahinui, Isaacs, Kaapana, Beamer, and Medeiros families in Hawai`i--it's in the genes and it saturates the environment.

[millring]

Did I ever tell you guys about my phone call from John Pizzarelli?

[millring]

YES YOU DID, SO SHUT UP!

[millring]

Well, okay then.

[Shannon]

Aug 14, 2020 13:51:53 GMT -5 millring said:

Did I ever tell you guys about my phone call from John Pizzarelli?

I missed the story. Do tell!

[millring]

It was ....wait I can google this....1994 when my friend, Grant, bought me "New Standards" for my birthday and introduced me to John Pizzarelli's music. I was smitten. This was before I had a computer, before there was youtube, before, even, AG had a website. Now my timing is a little fuzzier on this part, but within a year or two of New Standards (and I think I'd bought the Jersey album too) I got to wondering if Pizzarelli had any instructional stuff out there -- tabs...anything.

So, I wrote a letter. The address was on the back/bottom of the New Standards album and I doubted he'd get it, but there was no harm in trying. I asked about instructional materials.

A few weeks later I was in the kitchen eating breakfast when the phone rang. The real phone. The one with a wire jack that clicked into the wall. The one that didn't have caller ID (what's that?)

I walked across the room and picked up the phone.

"Hello, this is John Pizzarelli. Is John Bauman in?"

I nearly said "It IS (John Pizzarelli)!" Though I'd only heard his singing voice, the voice was still distinctive. I cooly said, "I'm John, and thanks so much for calling."

We seriously talked about guitars, his seven string (that's when I learned how he tuned it), his dad (I told him I'd recently picked up a cut-out of one of his dad's recordings).

Curiously, one of the things I remember (and this is where I wonder about my memory about the timing) is that I told him that I had recently subscribed to the new Acoustic Guitar Magazine and I'd love to see him featured in it.

He said, "You know, acoustic hasn't been my thing, but I've recently gotten more into acoustic guitar and that might be interesting".

So, on the one hand I felt silly for suggesting to an electric player (I still have problems not seeing a jazz archtop as something "other" and with more in common with acoustic than with electric, but I get it. He does plug in.) But I felt validated when Acoustic Guitar did, indeed, feature him in an article not too long after that.

Anyway, he said that he didn't have any instructional materials, but he'd send me a VHS of some concert footage and I could watch his hands. I got the video a few days later. I wrapped up a pot and sent it to the return address and never heard from him again.

[Shannon]

What a great story!

I got to see him from the 5th row a couple of years ago. Even from the stage, he seems like a humble and genuine guy, and the joy of playing just flows out of him.

Unfortunately, watching his hands didn't help me learn a single darned thing.

[drlj]

Cool story. You never told me that one.
Why? I do not know.

[billhammond]

Aug 14, 2020 16:37:08 GMT -5 drlj said:

Cool story. You never told me that one.
Why? I do not know.

(Cuz he just made it up, fool!)

[millring]

One thing I've been enjoying about getting older is that I can tell the same stories over again now without fear of anyone remembering the first telling.

[drlj]

Aug 14, 2020 16:44:41 GMT -5 billhammond said:

Aug 14, 2020 16:37:08 GMT -5 drlj said:

Cool story. You never told me that one.
Why? I do not know.

(Cuz he just made it up, fool!)

Well, he could have made it and told me before so I would recognize the made up story now. Pretty selfish, if you ask me.

[drlj]

Aug 14, 2020 17:12:16 GMT -5 drlj said:

Aug 14, 2020 16:44:41 GMT -5 billhammond said:

(Cuz he just made it up, fool!)

Well, he could have made it up and told me before so I would recognize the made up story now. Pretty selfish, if you ask me.

[drlj]

Did I ever tell anyone the story of when Eric Clapton called me during brunch?

[millring]

Aug 14, 2020 17:13:43 GMT -5 drlj said:

Did I ever tell anyone the story of when Eric Clapton called me during brunch?

oh, THAT old story.