A family affair delivered as pair of tributes Thursday night, as the husband and wife team of John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey brought their oldest production on stage, daughter Madeleine, to add voice and guitar in promoting music from both of their recently released albums.
For John, the evening was filled with suave bossa nova sounds in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the legendary Sinatra & Jobim album. His voice was perfect hushed tone akin to the likes of Gilberto and Jobim as he sang with his band of Mike Karn/b, Konrad Paszkudzki/p and Kevin Kanner/dr and the “Gluten Free Singers” of daughter and wife supplied lovely harmonies on lithe pieces like “Bangles, Baubles & Beads,” “Agua de Beber” and “One Note Samba.”
The band stepped off for awhile and Ms Molaskey turned the stage into a jazz version of the Von Trapp family as she performed material from her recent album, Portraits of Joni. Her voice was resplendent in a gently swinging version of “Help Me,” and the team got fun and funky with a take of “Big Yellow Taxi” while her duet with Madeleine on the intimate “Little Green” was as delicate and pristine as Waterford Crystal.
The band came back on for Ms. Molaskey to deliver a swinging vocalese treat of “The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines” while Pizzarelli made the strings bend and snap like Reese Witherspoon.
Changing the mood a bit, John delivered a reflective version of “Carefully Taught” that seemed quite poignant during these times of anger. He then closed out the set with “Dindi” and “So Danco Samba” with the harmonies gloriously misty and the grooves as sleek as the fins on a ’50 Caddy. Closing out the evening with favorites like the opus “I Like Jersey Best” and “Route 66,” Pizzarelli and Molaskey showed that jazz and timeless standards is like marriage, in that it gets better with age.
Upcoming shows at Catalina’s includes Tierney Sutton/Mark Winkler 08.27, Ronnie Laws 09.08, Ron Carter Trio 09.14-17 and Tom Scott 09.19