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John Pizzarelli

Jazz

John Pizzarelli Tickets

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About

GRAMMY® Award-Winning & GRAMMY® Nominated Guitarist, Singer & Producer John Pizzarelli has been hailed by the BOSTON GLOBE for “reinvigorating the Great American Songbook and re-popularizing jazz.”

Established as one of the prime contemporary interpreters of the Great American Songbook, Pizzarelli has expanded that repertoire by including the music of Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Tom Waits, Antonio Carlos Jobim and the Beatles. While plenty of jazz greats influenced his work—Benny Goodman, Les Paul, Zoot Sims, Clark Terry and Slam Stewart, among others—Nat King Cole has been Pizzarelli’s hero and foundation over the last 25 years.

Pizzarelli’s solo recording career started in 1990 where played clubs and concert halls on the jazz circuit, opening for such greats as Dave Brubeck, Ramsey Lewis and Rosemary Clooney. In 1993, he was honored to open for Frank Sinatra’s international tour and then joined in the celebration for his 80th birthday at Carnegie Hall, bringing down the house singing “I Don’t Know Why I Love You Like I Do” with his father accompanying him.

Reviews

Rating: 4.8 out of 5 based on 79 reviews
  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    by Anonymous on 4/29/14Valley Performing Arts Center - Northridge

    Wonderful concert. Fabulous musicians. Great stories and commaraderie shared with the audience.

  • Rating: 4 out of 5

    I'm not going to write a long review

    by Fardarkle on 4/29/14Valley Performing Arts Center - Northridge

    Lewis was good, if a bit low-key for my taste. Pizzarelli was fun, funny, energetic, a real treat.

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    John Pizzarelli is the best!!!

    by tacobob89 on 4/8/13Tilles Center - Hillwood Recital Hall - Greenvale

    Excellent Show!! John always puts on the best show!!

  • Rating: 4 out of 5

    Great music

    by CaptJoeA on 4/7/13Tilles Center - Hillwood Recital Hall - Greenvale

    Loved the music. Sound system was not great. I wish it were longer.

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    John Pizzarelli Quartet and Jane Monheit

    by 0WIZARD0 on 6/12/12Valley Performing Arts Center - Northridge

    Wow, what an evening! Jane Monheit's voice has matured into a finely tuned instrument. Her stylings and phrasing remind one of vintage Sinatra. We could have listened to her all evening. John Pizzarelli remains one of the finest guitarists of our time. His repertoire is so large and varied, he can go from Jazz to classical without skipping a beat. His wonderful sense of humor shows throughout his performance, and keeps it fresh and entertaining. We will definitely attend more of Ms. Monheit's and Mr. Pizzarelli's concerts.

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    The Jazz Master

    by donspect on 6/12/12Valley Performing Arts Center - Northridge

    What a fabulous evening---great choice of music, great performance and good, friendly warmth and humor. Each of his musicians is at the top of his game. We could have listened for ten more hours!

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    John Pizzarelli

    by DDS68 on 6/12/12Valley Performing Arts Center - Northridge

    John Pizzarelli and his quartet is simply amazing. They are true artists and magnificent musicians. I have followed them for years.

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    by JazzyMusicLover on 6/11/12Valley Performing Arts Center - Northridge

    John Pizzarelli always puts on a great show and combined with the wonderful voice of Jane Monheit this was just a concert of a whole lot of beautiful music.

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    by Jazz4142012 on 4/16/12Folly Theater - Kansas City

    Thoroughly enjoyable! Great entertainment in a a great venue. Three cheers for the Folly Jazz Series!

  • Rating: 4 out of 5

    by Anonymous on 4/16/12Folly Theater - Kansas City

    Great show! Not only is Pizzarelli a terrific jazz artist but he is a very good entertainer who puts on a lively production and is backed by great musicians.

  • Rating: 4 out of 5

    Excellent Night of Jazz!

    by FanofPizza on 4/16/12Folly Theater - Kansas City

    Loved every minute! John is very entertaining in more ways than one! What a talented guitar player, story teller, and musician! I could listen to him all night long. We have several of his CD's and play them all the time! He has such a smooth voice!

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    Pizzarelli & Molaskey Rules!!!!!!

    by Caocs on 12/22/11Walt Disney Concert Hall - Los Angeles

    As good as it gets!!! Musical heaven @ Disney Concert Hall!!!!

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    Pizzarelli Pure Joy!!

    by jazzbabee on 7/6/10Eastman Theatre - Rochester

    Swinging jazz, snappy repartee, and infectious fun. A sure fire prescription when you're feeling blue - listen to John Pizzarelli. Even better, go see him!

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    John and Nikki were both excellent!

    by houbenator on 7/4/10Queen Elizabeth Theatre - Vancouver

    We went to hear Nikki - didn't know who John Pizzarelli was, but he really surprized us. Both acts were top rate. The musicians in both were exquisite. John and Nikki's singing was delightful. Nikki is a joyful, precocious, precious jem in the Jazz world! Refreshing in her youth, powerful in her proficiency. My wife and I really, really enjoyed her and bought her "Ella..." CD/DVD afterwards (that makes 2 of hers). I'm going to look for John's CD, too! Highly recommended that you hear both of them in person if you ever get the chance!

  • Rating: 4 out of 5

    Act 1 was great, Act 2 was okay

    by gregkellogg on 7/4/10Queen Elizabeth Theatre - Vancouver

    John pizzarelli was awesome. Great voice, wonderful entertainer. He knew how to make people laugh. Good audience connection. And he had good song choices. Nikki on the other hand definitely has talent. But she needs more exposure. She was singing times.with a.great voice but she was simply singing. You could not.feel her connection that much although she was cute, charming, and natural. Song choices were so-so. As she grows older, she will have more experiences in life and she will understand lyrics and feel the song more. Definitely on her way to becoming a wonderful singer entertainer. Overall, a 4. But after a rousing first act, the second act was anti-climactic. Some left early and you can see some of the excitement and energy dissipate. Perhaps change order of the acts.

  • Rating: 4 out of 5

    Pizzarelli was really entertaining!

    by fetita4 on 6/18/10Eastman Theatre - Rochester

    His brand of jazz interlaced with humor is very pleasant and his guitar playing exquisite! The combination with the Woody Hermann band was unfortunate though because their styles are sooo different and the brass instruments tended to play over him. These should have been two separate concerts. More Pizzarelli songs would have been greatly appreciated rather than remastering old Sinatras and also solos of the Pizzarelli quartet. But all in all it was an agreable evening in a beautiful concert hall.

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    The Pizzarelli family is tha best.

    by peepa on 6/18/10Eastman Theatre - Rochester

    I have been following this family for many years. Bucky, the father, was great, and his sons just get better and better. The fact that years ago, John opened for Frank Sinatra on many occasions should tell you something. His smooth singing style and great guitar playing is something everyone who enjoys music should see and hear.

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    John Pizzarelli & Woody Herman Band

    by robohar on 6/17/10Eastman Theatre - Rochester

    He is a wonderful guitarist and great singer .His Quartet were great along with the wonderful musicians in the Woody Herman Band . Was a great show .

  • Rating: 4 out of 5

    John Pizzarelli was terrific

    by Anonymous on 6/17/10Eastman Theatre - Rochester

    Woody Herman was a little slow to start by JP pumped them up and made the show.

  • Rating: 2 out of 5

    6-16-10 John Pizzarelli plus Woody Herman Big Band

    by eastmanjazz on 6/17/10Eastman Theatre - Rochester

    We had high hopes for this performance - knowing the quality of the players and the venue. John Pizzarelli is a light "jazz standards" singer, capable guitarist, and a good showman. He can "speak" to the audience both in words and music. His Pianist is outstanding / his brother on Bass and his drummer are both very good. John has only one main solo mode though - he seems to always prefer to sing along with his guitar lines, ala George Benson - that gets old quickly - let's hear some dedicated Jazz Guitar playing without always the voice in unison ! There was a monster Tenor Saxophonist on the band just chomping at the bit to play extraordinarily inventive improvisation - but we never got to hear him - instead we heard John's cutesy cliche lines at every opportunity... For the general public without any musical training I suppose this was a comfortable evening of easy listening jazz albeit with poor ampification - for the Jazz afficionados however, it was not worth attending. The accoustics in the newly revamped Eastman Theatre were very disappointing - way too much booming Bass and drum kit amplification in the house, and one could not hear the soloists or discern the tonal charateristics of each section - too bad as the band had some real heavies sitting in - the Saxophone section was likely awesome - but I could barely hear Gary Keller play Tenor solos in the early pieces, and the same deal later when he switched to lead Alto. Frank Tiberi leads the Woody Herman Big Band these days - I remember hearing Frank playing Tenor when Woody was still leading the band some 30 years ago - his soloing was uninspriring then, and 30 years hasn't changed that fact. The rest of the band possesses so much more talent - why not put your ego aside and let them shine through ?