Big Band in the Sky

BIG BAND IN THE SKY ‘There Is Only One Bucky’ Bucky Pizzarelli 1926-2020

By Sanford Josephson

In 1969, Oscar Peterson released an album called Motions and Emotions on the MPS Records label. One of the tracks was the Antonio Carlos Jobim tune, “Wave”, and the writer Gene Lees sought to find out who the guitarist was.

He reported on his search in the July 1, 1999, issue of JazzTimes. “The chart is marvelous,” he wrote, “and so is Oscar’s performance. But I was particularly struck by the rhythm section guitar work. I listened, trying to figure out who the player was and concluded that it had to be Brazilian, such was the authenticity of it. Not many Americans at that time could really play that way. Later I said to [the arranger] Claus Ogerman, ‘Who played guitar on that track?’ ‘Bucky’, Claus said. It was unnecessary to add a surname: There is only one Bucky.”

Bucky Pizzarelli died at his home in Upper Saddle River, NJ, April 1, 2020, at the age of 94. Two days earlier, according to his daughter, Mary Pizzarelli, he had tested positive for the coronavirus.

After suffering a stroke, pneumonia, and several hospitalizations in 2015 and 2016, it appeared that Pizzarelli’s career was over. But he made a triumphant comeback in 2017. The Chicago Tribune’s Howard Reich, reviewing his June 2017 performance at the Jazz Showcase, wrote of Pizzarelli’s “disarmingly straightforward approach to melodic line. Even at his exalted age, Pizzarelli brought considerable craft to his solos, dispatching practically every note with heightened care.”

In October 2017, the New Jersey Jazz Society saluted Pizzarelli’s seven-decade career at NJJS’ 45th anniversary concert. As reported in the December 2017 issue of Jersey Jazz, the concert kicked off “with a silky smooth ‘Stompin’ at the Savoy’ with Bucky in the leader’s chair . . . The man of the hour, Bucky Pizzarelli, was resplendent in his trademark blazer and rep tie, flashing that ever ready smile, guitar in hand.” Pizzarelli was a favorite among NJJS members and fans, having played countless Jazz Society events going back to the 1970s.

Born in Paterson, NJ, on January 9, 1926, Pizzarelli learned to play banjo and guitar at an early age and, at age 17, was on the road with vocalist Vaughn Monroe’s band. His first musical hero was a blind accordionist/organist named Joe Mooney whom he would play with in Paterson. In an interview with Jersey Jazz’s Schaen Fox 12 years ago (Jersey Jazz, January 2008), Pizzarelli said he learned about the potential Vaughn Monroe gig because of his relationship with Mooney.

“On Sunday afternoons in Paterson,” he said, “we were allowed to go to the Hollywood Brick Bar downstairs on Market and Main Street. Joe Mooney was there, and one of my uncles was playing

Photo by Bob Schultz

guitar with him . . . Frank Ryerson, who was first trumpet player with Vaughn Monroe, was looking for a guitar player to join the band. So, he said to me, are you the kid who played with Joe Mooney down in Paterson?’ I said, ‘Yeah’. He said, ‘OK,’ and that was the requirement. I jumped on the bus and went to Scranton, PA, and Vaughn asked me to stay with the band ‘til I went into the Army, which was about four months later.”

After being released from the Army in 1946, Pizzarelli reunited with Monroe before leaving to join the NBC staff orchestra. He also played with the Three Suns, free-lanced, and toured with Benny Goodman. Pizzarelli was one of the few musicians able to maintain a positive rapport with the difficult Goodman over several years. Asked about that by Fox, he explained that, “Benny could pick a wise guy out before he even walked into the room . . . If you tried to outsmart him, you couldn’t do it . . . I knew what he wanted: With Benny, you had to know what tempo he was doing. That’s all. When he played by himself, there was the tempo before you started playing. If you interpreted that the wrong way, you were out.”

Pizzarelli switched from a six-string to a seven-string guitar when he started playing with fellow guitarist George Barnes in 1970 after Barnes’ previous partner, Carl Kress, died. “I was lucky to team up with George Barnes when I first got that seven-string Gretsch,” Pizzarelli told JazzTimes’ Lees.

“That’s how I got to learn to play that thing.” Reviewing one of Pizzarelli’s and Barnes’ first performances together, The New York Times’ John S. Wilson called them “a brilliant and unique team. Mr. Barnes and Mr. Pizzarelli can be dazzling, and they can be

sensuously brooding. They sparkle with excitement, leap with joy, or relax with a warm romantic glow.” After breaking up with Barnes in 1972, Pizzarelli embarked on a busy recording and performing career, playing solo and appearing with saxophonists Bud Freeman and Zoot Sims and violinists Stephane Grappelli and Joe Venuti, among others. He played at the White House three times -- for Presidents Nixon, Reagan, and Clinton. The Reagan performance was with Benny Goodman’s quintet which also included Hank Jones on piano, Milt Hinton on bass, and Buddy Rich on drums. “Buddy” Pizzarelli told Fox, “respected Benny like you can’t believe, and when Benny called him to come and play, he was excited and dropped everything. We went down to Washington and stayed at the Watergate. When we played, he even played ‘Sing, Sing, Sing’ the way Gene Krupa did it. I have a tape of that. It is very exciting.” Zoot Sims, Pizzarelli said, was Clinton’s favorite sax player. He was also Pizzarelli’s. “To me,” he told Fox, “there was nobody like Zoot. He was the happiest guy whenever he had that saxophone. Nobody could beat him. He and Al Cohn together, they were the champs. Two champs.” In 1998, Pizzarelli and tenor saxophonist Scott Hamilton released a duo album on the Concord Jazz label called Red Door, a tribute to Sims. Calling the album, “a very successful outing,” AllMusic’s Scott Yanow wrote that, “Pizzarelli’s mastery of the seven-string guitar allows him to play bass lines behind solos, so one never misses the other instruments . . . Both Hamilton and Pizzarelli sound inspired in this format, stretching themselves while always swinging.” In 1980, Pizzarelli began performing in duos with his son, John, then 20, who has gone onto a very successful career as a guitarist and vocalist. The day after Bucky Pizzarelli’s death, John Pizzarelli described his father to the Morristown Daily Record’s William Westhoven as “the ultimate sideman. He wasn’t looking to be the guy out in front of the band. He was happy to be inside the band, supporting the whole organization. There will be some kind of tribute,” he added, “as soon as we can all get with six feet of each other.” Bucky and John Pizzarelli have recorded albums together on the Arbors Records label, including The Pizzarellis, Bucky and John: Contrast and Bucky and John Pizzarelli: Family Fugue. Arbors Records’ Rachel Domber recalled to Jersey Jazz that her late husband, Mat, and she became friends with Bucky during the 1990s. “Of course, we had heard of him before that,” she said. “He was a very warm, kind person, and I particularly loved his humor and positive spirit. He seemed to enjoy life to the fullest and made every occasion you were with him -- whether on the road, at a restaurant, hanging with the guys -- a memorable experience. I always looked forward to being with him and his whole family. Also, he was very calm under pressure.” (See article about Rachel Domber receiving the Sarasota Jazz Club’s Satchmo Award, page 12). “Jazz guitar wouldn’t be what it is today without Bucky Pizzarelli,” guitarist Frank Vignola told the Daily Record’s Westhoven. “He and Freddie Greene were responsible for a style of rhythm guitar playing that has lasted until 2020.” Vignola was often Pizzarelli’s partner in multi-guitar summits at the annual Morristown Jazz and Blues festivals held in August. “He was an inspiration on so many levels,” Vignola said. “When I first met him, I had four young kids, and he was a father. He showed me that, yes, you can be a jazz guitar player and raise a family. That may not seem like a big deal, but it was huge to me.” Ed Laub, Pizzarelli’s protege and musical partner in recent years, recalled on Facebook his first lesson with his mentor. “When I was 16 years old (1968), I rode my bike to the home of Bucky Pizzarelli to take my first guitar lesson. It was a Saturday morning and a day I have never forgotten . . . He said to me, ‘The most important thing you can do as a musician is to try and make everyone you’re playing with sound as good as they can sound...it’s not about you! That’s how you make good music!’ Every musician that ever had the honor of playing with Bucky could sense that was what he did for them every time they played. It was never about him . . . I could never repay Bucky for what he has given me in my life . . . I will be forever grateful. I miss you my dear friend.” To pianist Dick Hyman, Pizzarelli was “a marvelous guy to work with. He had perfect time, and he knew exactly how the rhythm section and the individual song were best served. I’ll miss him personally; he was one of the founding members of the gang.” Tenor saxophonist Houston Person met Pizzarelli in the early 1970s. “He was such an easygoing guy,” Person said, “and he and he became one of my role models, although I told him I couldn’t dress like him! He always told me I should just play what I felt. It makes no difference, he said, what genre you’re in. We played with the beboppers and the swingers. We all loved Bucky!” In a Facebook video, violinist Aaron Weinstein recalled the first time he performed with Pizzarelli. “I realized,” he said, “I was sharing the stage with a guy who had played ‘I Got Rhythm’ three times longer than I’d been alive. He did everything but play my violin to help me through that concert . . . Over 15 years, I’ve had the privilege of working on a regular basis with Bucky. During every concert, every recording session, he showed me what it meant to be a great jazz musician. For Bucky Pizzarelli, it meant doing your best BIG BAND IN THE SKY continued from page 5 Bucky, with Bernard Purdie Photo by Mitchell Seidel

Pianist Rossano Sportiello, like Weinstein, learned a lot from Pizzarelli, describing him as “a wonderful musician and person, very supportive of younger players. He was always in a good mood and very generous to give sincere advice. I’ll miss him very much.”

To guitarist Charlie Apicella, “Bucky Pizzarelli embodied the class, warmth, and complete musicianship that is sometimes a rare thing to witness today. My favorite of his recordings are his solo unaccompanied guitar album, Love Songs from1981 and his rhythm playing on Tony Mottola’s All The Way from 1983.”

Bucky’s wife Ruth tragically followed him in death on April 8th, one week to the day after his own. Born December 1, 1930, Ruth was, according to John, “a Jersey Girl before the term was fashionable.” Raised in Waldwick, NJ, no one cared more about family than Ruth. Known to her children as Mommy, and Ruthie by family and friends, Mrs. Pizzarelli was a woman of great style, who loved music, loved a great party, was a fabulous cook, was a kind and generous friend, and never met a stranger she didn’t know. She and Bucky met in 1952, where she worked as a nurse at St. Joseph’s Hospital with Bucky’s sister. Married two years later, the Pizzarellis celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary January 9, 2020.

In addition to John and Mary, the Pizzarellis are survived by son, bassist Martin Pizzarelli; daughter Anne Hymes; and four grandchilden.

Donations can be made in their honor to the Jazz Foundation of America.

Ellis Marsalis -- ‘Giant Musician And Teacher, But an Even Greater Father’

Photo Credit: Louisianaweekly.com

“All I did was make sure they had the best so they could be the best. They did the rest.” That brief statement, in a 1993 Ebony Magazine interview, was pianist/educator Ellis Marsalis’ assessment of his influence on the success of his jazz musician sons -- saxophonist Branford, trumpeter Wynton, trombonist Delfeayo, and percussionist Jason. The elder Marsalis was practically a household name in New Orleans for years, but he only became nationally known when his sons, Branford and Wynton, rose to prominence in the 1980s.

Marsalis died on Wednesday, April 1, 2020, in New Orleans at the age of 85. The cause, according to Branford, was complications of COVID-19. “My dad, was a giant of a musician and teacher, but an even greater father,” said Branford, in a statement issued after his father’s death. “He poured everything he had into making us the best of what we could be.”

Wynton, in his blog on wyntonmarsalis.org, called his father “a humble man with a lyrical sound that captured the spirit of place -- New Orleans, the Crescent City, the Big Easy, the Curve. He was a stone-cold believer without extravagant tastes. Like many parents, he sacrificed for us and made so much possible. Not only material things, but things of substance and beauty like the ability to hear complicated music and to read books; to see and to contemplate art . . . For me, there is no sorrow, only joy. He went on down the Good Kings Highway, as was his way, a jazz man, ‘with grace and gratitude.’”

Ellis Marsalis was born on November 14, 1934, in New Orleans. He began as a saxophonist before changing to piano in high school. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from New Orleans’ Dillard University, later earning a Master’s Degree in Music Education from Loyola University, also in New Orleans. He directed the Jazz Studies program at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts for high school students. Among his students were trumpeter Terence Blanchard and pianist/vocalist Harry Connick, Jr. He later taught at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond and the University of New Orleans where he founded its Jazz Studies program.

While teaching, he continued to work as a musician, often performing with visiting musicians who were playing in New Orleans and, for three years, from 1967-70, touring with New Orleans-based trumpeter Al Hirt. In 1979, he played a gig at New York’s Carnegie Tavern and was praised by John S. Wilson of The New York Times. “Unlike the widely accepted image of jazz musicians from New Orleans,” Wilson wrote, “Mr. Marsalis is not a traditionalist . . . he’s an eclectic performer with a light and graceful touch . . .an exploratory turn of mind.”

A year later, his two older sons, Branford and Wynton, began to rise on the national scene, and their father’s profile rose with them. In 1983, he gave a solo performance at the Carnegie Tavern’s next door neighbor, Carnegie Hall. “Mr. Marsalis’ interpretations were impressive in their economy and steadiness,” wrote The New York Times critic Stephen Holden. “Sticking mainly to the middle register of the keyboard, the pianist offered richly harmonized arrangements in which fancy keyboard work was kept to a minimum, and studious melodic invention, rather than pronounced bass patterns, determined the structures and tempos.”

Marsalis also collaborated on albums with his sons -- Standard Time, Vol. 3: The Resolution of Romance (Columbia: 1990) and Joe

By Sanford Josephson

Due to the coronavirus, the New Brunswick Jazz Project canceled all performances beginning in mid-March. Please check nbjp.org for updates.

Ten years ago, New Brunswick residents Virginia DeBerry, Jimmy Lenihan, and Michael Tublin decided they wanted to bring live jazz to their town on a regular basis. As luck would have it, all three were steady customers at Makeda, a local Ethiopian restaurant. “We approached Makeda,” said Lenihan, “because we knew the owners, and they knew us.” Added DeBerry, “We had been regulars there for

Through the years, NBJP’s venues have featured a wide variety of well-known jazz artists including guitarist Dave Stryker, saxophonists Tia Fuller, Virginia Mayhew and Jerry Weldon, and drummers Victor Lewis and Rudy Royston. Tublin recalled one night when young trombonist Andy Hunter was performing. “All of a sudden, Conrad Herwig comes in and sits in and plays with Andy. We knew Andy was one of his proteges, so it was special.” Added Lenihan: “A bunch of nights we hugged each other because of the interaction of the performers and the audience.”

One promise the NBJP partners have made to their patrons is that there will never be a cover charge or minimum at their venues. That has been accomplished, DeBerry explained, “by working with the venues so they can maximize their return on the additional business jazz nights bring. It’s also working with the audience and encouraging them to eat and drink so the music can keep playing. One of the issues that has happened with jazz, especially in the New York-New Jersey area is that events have often been cost prohibitive.”

From left, Jimmy Lenihan, Virginia DeBerry, Michael Tublin

Another key to success has been the noise level of the venues. “We ask for respect for the musicians from our audiences,” said Lenihan. “We don’t ask for silence, but we do ask that people listen to the music.” And, echoing DeBerry, he added: “The music is free, but we do expect our audiences to support the house.”

many years, and they were willing to give us a shot.” Tublin explained that, “At the launch, we said, ‘We’ll take the financial risk. We’ll put the money up at the beginning, and you’ll see the benefit.’” The biggest challenge at the start was getting the word out, and DeBerry remembers that, “There were nights when it was the three of us, Makeda staff, and the band. But, the music was great, and we knew we would continue. We had agreed to present events for a year -- no matter what. We felt that was the way to give it a chance.” The first act, booked on Wednesday night, April 14, 2010, was alto saxophonist Ralph Bowen who was also a faculty member in the Jazz Studies program at Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts. “By the end of the first six months,” recalled DeBerry, “we had gone from twice a month to once a week. The audience was small but enthusiastic, and we felt like it would happen.” Currently, there is live jazz three nights a week. Tuesday nights feature emerging artists at the George Street Ale House, and Wednesday and Thursday nights are at Tavern on George. “I think the last two to three years is when NBJP really caught on,” DeBerry added, “once we relocated to Tavern on George.” The group has tried a number of venues, but Tavern on George, according to Lenihan, “came with a basement that looked like a jazz club. It has a certain vibe.” And the owner, Doug Schneider, is committed to making jazz work there. “When we first started there,” said Tublin, “we asked him what dates he wanted to cancel, thinking he would have some private parties around the holidays. He said, ‘We’re not canceling jazz.’” This writer was at Tavern on George on a Thursday night in late January to see the Nat Adderley, Jr. Quartet. The house was packed, but what was particularly evident was the diversity of the audience -- in race, age, and gender. That, according to DeBerry, is “one of the things I think is the greatest about NBJP jazz nights. I honestly believe we have the most consistently diverse audience of any cultural institution in New Brunswick. We regularly span not only race, age, and gender, but also a wide variety of economic, social and cultural sectors. Our audience proves that music is a connecting force. We have people who have made new friends. We’ve had a number of romantic relationships come from jazz nights. We’ve had marriage proposals and weddings result from our jazz nights. It’s been pretty extraordinary.” The diversity of the audience, Lenihan added, “reflects our community. It’s the people we hung out with before we started this. They’re the same type of people who are attending our venues. I would also add a shout out to the city of New Brunswick, and the Mayor of New Brunswick, James Cahill. He has been in our corner from the very beginning. He’s the most supportive politician I’ve ever dealt with.” New Brunswick, Tublin pointed out, “is between New York and Philadelphia. It’s fortunate that, geographically, it’s where we all landed.” Alto saxophonist Ralph Bowen was the first NBJP performer.

Photo by Joel W. Henderson