Pizzarelli, John - of the John Pizzarelli Trio
By: Dominick A. Miserandino
John talks about his live CD and what makes his group a little unique. We learn what makes his guitar playing stand out and why it is you can always tell a John Pizzarelli song when you hear it.
DM) What made you decide to do the live album?
JP) I think it was the opportunity. They were looking to record the group live and we were going to play at the Birdland and I thought it was a great time to record the group. We're going on ten years and it's a good representation of the work that we've done for the past ten years. It also gave the record company a good reason, we had the material so we got to do the stuff that we had played for ten years and we had the new material. It just presented itself at the right time.
DM) How has the group changed over the last ten years?
JP) It's been easier for us to put things together. When you work with the same group for ten years you just know the ideas for putting material together for your group. You know what your strengths and weaknesses are. You know what the group is. The group doesn't try to be anything more than it is. We're a swing jazz group in the style of a Nat Cole and an Oscar Peterson trio. It's a hybrid of those two groups mainly. When we put the new material together for the record, we knew where we were headed. We don't do anything more than we do. We're not trying to play outside of our style. We know what we do, and that's what I think is good about being together for ten years.
DM) How much of John Pizzarelli trio is a group and how much is "your show"?
JP) It's my trio in a sense, that I make the final decisions, but still the group relies on everybody's individuality as part of its whole concert. We've had other piano players sub the gig, and the group's not the same. We rely on the playing of each guy. We had different bass players but it wasn't Martin. Martin's probably the most important guy in the group to me. I think Martin really holds the group together for Ray and I. His playing is so solid as a bass player. What I enjoy about the group is that everybody knows their place and everybody has to do everything. You have to be an accompanist and a soloist. You have to know your instrument all around to do all of those things.
DM) After ten years, where do you see yourself in another ten years?
JP) It's more of the same, but I think it's also finding and writing material that works for the group. I don't see the group as an exponent of old music. We play in a style. Even though the songs are from a certain era of music, we play with a style that I think makes them fresh. We try to find music that we can bring to this style, like the James Taylor songs on this record. That's the biggest thing, just trying to find songs that work with the group. In another ten years, hopefully we'll do more of the same. Also, my playing has improved over the last ten years too. The way things evolve like that are interesting to watch.
DM) There are lots of jazz records out there. How do you distinguish yourself from them?
JP) We're a mature group. I think we know what we are. There are not a lot of groups in this style that do things outside of the style. I just think you know the sound of our group when you hear it, because it's a very polished sound. There's a sense of accomplishment after having been together for ten years and forming your sound more and more.
DM) I've noticed that you've written seven songs for this record.
JP) Yes, we try to add to the catalogue in our style. When we started, I came up with ideas for songs that were in this style... like, "Oh, How My Heart Beats For You". These songs have come to us over the years, songs that work within what we do. It makes sense for us to add to the catalogue.
DM) Do you feel that you've now developed a signature song?
JP) The real diehards like "I Like Jersey Best". All the songs on this live album are all songs that have been songs that we've played over the past ten years and people have always wanted to hear. We played it as a small group for so long and refined it. A lot of these are culled from other records but in our trio form, as opposed to the album where we might have had horns and drums. This is really a collection as chosen by the audience's reactions.
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