92Y'S LYRICS & LYRICISTS Celebrates BUCKY PIZZARELLI’S 85th Birthday 1/9

Legendary jazz guitarist (and 92Y audience favorite) Bucky Pizzarelli performed and recorded with iconic singers from Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett to Peggy Lee, Rosemary Clooney, Sarah Vaughan and countless others. On January 9 Bucky celebrates his 85th birthday, and that weekend son and daughter-in-law John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey launch the 2011 Lyrics & Lyricists^TM season with a party featuring great songs and inside stories from Bucky's career. The two serve as co-artistic directors for the show, performing with vocalists Darius de Haas and Judy Kuhn, and musicians Larry Fuller (piano), Tony Tedesco (drums) and Martin Pizzarelli (bass) of Pizzarelli's quartet. Also on board are jazz virtuosi Ken Peplowski (woodwinds) and Aaron Weinstein (violin).

John Pizzarelli says about his father, "Bucky's career spans an amazingly diverse range of American music from 1930 through today. He was part of the Big Band era with Benny Goodman and the heyday of sophisticated New York singers like Julie London and Peggy Lee. He was connected to the early days of rock ‘n roll, playing with Dion and the Belmonts, and with later singer-songwriters like Carly Simon and Janis Ian. And he's integral to the music that's become known as the American Songbook. When you want a certain sound, you want Bucky, and we're thrilled to celebrate not only his birthday, but his musical achievements throughout the years."

L&L shows are Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 2 and 7 pm, and Monday at 2 and 8 pm. Individual tickets range from $67 to $52. There is also a special under-35 ticket price of $25 for the Saturday and Sunday evening shows.

Cast

John Pizzarelli, vocals & guitar
Singer, guitarist and bandleader Pizzarelli is known as one of today's premier interpreters of the American Songbook. He has recorded nearly 40 albums either as the leader or with other performers, including such luminaries as George Shearing and Rosemary Clooney, and garnered a Grammy Award nomination for his 2008 album With a Song in My Heart. His most recent release is Rockin in Rhythm: A Tribute to Duke Ellington (Telarc).

Jessica Molaskey, vocals
Broadway veteran Molaskey has performed with the Pizzarelli family at venues around the world, from Feinstein's at the Regency to the Montreal Jazz Festival. She has also been featured at Lincoln Center's American Songbook series, Carnegie Hall and Rainbow and Stars, and in concert venues across the country. Her New York theater credits include A Man of No Importance, Parade, Dream and the 2008 revival of Sunday in the Park With George.

Pizzarelli and Molaskey co-host the nationally syndicated radio program Radio Deluxe with John Pizzarelli from their "deluxe living room high atop Lexington Avenue."

Darius de Haas, vocals
De Haas made his Broadway debut in Kiss of the Spider Woman and has performed in numerous Broadway productions including Lincoln Center Theatre's productions of Carousel and Marie Christine, and Rent. He toured internationally in the world premiere of I Was Looking At the Ceiling... and won the Obie award for his work in the title role of Off-Broadway's Running Man.

Judy Kuhn, vocals
Kuhn has garnered three Tony and three Drama Desk nominations for her work on Broadway in Les Misérables, Chess, Rags and She Loves Me. She was also nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for her starring role in Metropolis in London's West End. Invisibly but famously, she is known as the singing voice of Pocahontas in the hit Disney film.

Coming up in 2011

February 12, 13, 14, 2011
ON A CLEAR DAY: THE MUSICAL VISION OF Burton Lane
David Loud, Artistic Director

March 12, 13, 14, 2011
STAGE DOOR CANTEEN: BROADWAY RESPONDS TO WWII
Ted Chapin, Artistic Director

April 30, May 1, 2, 2011
THE CROWD'S AT EL MOROCCO: THE HEYDAY OF THE NEW YORK NIGHTCLUBS
DEBORAH GRACE WINER, Artistic Director

May 21, 22, 23, 2011
CARRIED AWAY: BEING COMDEN AND GREEN
Phyllis Newman, Artistic Director

ABOUT LYRICS & LYRICISTS
Long one of 92nd Street Y's most popular programs, the American Songbook series Lyrics & Lyricists^TM was launched in 1970 when longtime Broadway conductor Maurice Levine and lyricist E.Y. "Yip" Harburg (The Wizard of Oz) took to the stage to talk about the then-unusual topic of songwriting. Over the years the series has featured every great Broadway and Hollywood lyricist including Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Johnny Mercer, Stephen Sondheim, Dorothy Fields, and Alan Jay Lerner. Since 2004, L&L has featured original programs created by accomplished champions of the repertoire, including Rob Fisher, Sheldon Harnick, Robert Kimball, Rex Reed, Lucie Arnaz, Billy Stritch, Ted Sperling and Andrea Marcovicci,. Each show celebrates the American Songbook through a a blend of performance and narrative with a particular focus on lyrics. For more information, please visit www.92Y.org/Lyrics.

The performances of Lyrics & Lyricists' "Frank and Tony and Peggy and Me: Making Music with Great Singers - Celebrating Bucky Pizzarelli's 85th Birthday" are partially underwritten by the Edythe Kenner Foundation.

ABOUT 92Y
92nd Street Y's unique fusion of community and culture makes it the only place of its kind in the world. 92Y is a not-for-profit community center, performance stage and lecture hall; a literary salon and home for artists; a school, outreach organization and summer camp; a gym, a residence and more. 92nd Street Y, a proudly Jewish institution since its inception in 1874, has become a community of communities, welcoming people of all ages, races, faiths and backgrounds. Now serving more than 300,000 people each year in its New York facilities, 92Y also reaches millions of "virtual" guests around the world through its website, satellite broadcasts and other electronic media. Committed to making its programs available to everyone, 92nd Street Y awards nearly $1 million in scholarships annually and reaches about 7500 public school children through subsidized arts and science education programs. For more information, please visit www.92Y.org.