The first thing you do when you grab a seat for a John Pizzarelli concert (or is it a show? We’ll get to that!) is to ask yourself, “Am I coming to see a) a guitarist who also sings and is a crack up between numbers b) a singer who sure is hot on the guitar with a wacko sense of humor, or c) a comedian who’ll get you rolling in the aisles with his banter and wit, and also happens to be pretty darned good on guitar and vocals?” Whether your answer is one of them or d) all of the above, you’re guaranteed a great evening with The Pizza Man delivering on all fronts.
Teamed up with long time buddies Larry Fuller/p, Martin Pizzarelli/b and Tony Tedesco/dr, Pizzarelli crooned tunes like the swinging and swaying “Will You Still Be Mine” and “Just Squeeze Me” that featured incessantly rhythmic soloing by Fuller and a 6-4-3 relay between him and the adroit Tedesco and brother Andrew. Besides providing alarmingly impressive chops on his 7 stringer, as with the band on “Errand Boy For Rhythm,” (which left Nat King Cole’s version in the dust), and his ebullient solo take of “Just Squeeze Me,” Pizzarelli has come across the brilliant idea of combining seemingly incongruous tunes from the Baby Boomers and 50s hipsters, and making it sound logical, swinging and as fresh as newly pressed linens. Thus, The Beatles’ “I Feel Fine” grooves along to Lee Morgan’s funky and booga-looing “The Sidewinder” with nary a raised eyebrow, and Neil Young’s “Harvest” joins forces with Tin Pan Alley’s “Harvest Moon” in complete logic. Guitar freaks had a field day with the hard bop classic “4 on 6” intertwining with The Allman Brothers’ “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed,” and Pizzarelli disarming all in attendance with hilarious stories about Paul McCartney, Sinatra and anyone else who dared pop inot his fertile mind. By the time the 100 minute set ended with a back beat shuffling “Ruby Ruby,’ Pizzarelli and company gave all in attendance complete headaches, either from laughing so hard, or from trying to figure out how he could play that funky music, white boy.