Review: JOHN PIZZARELLI & THE SWING 7 Are in Excellent Form at Birdland Jazz

The popular jazz guitarist and vocalist John Pizzarelli opened up an eight-set stint at Birdland Jazz on July 30th. Broadway World caught the late set. Pizzarelli was in top form with his seven-piece band, The Swing 7.

Pizzarelli, in a blue seersucker suit with a tie, performed up front and stage right with the rhythm section at the back of the stage (drummer Andy Watson, bassist Paul Gill and pianist Isaiah J. Thompson), while the horn section of trombonist John Mosca (trombone), Tony Kadleck (trumpet and flugelhorn, Chris Byars (alto sax), and Kenny Berger (tenor sax and bass clarinet) were up front at stage left. Notably, Pizzarelli, as bandleader as well as frontman, remained standing for the entire set, even for instrumentals.

The set opened with an up-tempo instrumental, Groover Wailin’ (Johnny Mandel, with an arrangement by the late Don Sebesky).

Borrowing an arrangement Sebesky wrote for Chet Baker, Pizzarelli, in fine voice, sang “With a Song In My Heart” to kick off a segment of songs by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. He started the tune with his patented “doubling” - scat stinging while playing the same notes on guitar - and the horns paid homage to Baker’s trumpet solo from his 1974 recording.

Pizzarelli performed a rubato verse of “Mountain Greenery” before the band joined in with an excellent blending of brass and reeds that gave the horn section a big feel. Pizzarelli also sang several phrases with only drum accompaniment. The very satisfying arrangement also had a call and response of Pizzarelli’s scat doubling and Thompson’s piano.

A boffo arrangement of “Manhattan” included the rarely sung verse, after which the band quoted “East Side, West Side” before Pizzarelli sang the familiar refrain: “I’ll take Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island too…” The ending cleverly quoted another New York song, “New York, New York (It’s a Helluva Town)" from On the Town. In a similar vein, the band slyly borrowed the intro to Anthony Carlos Jobim’s “One Note Samba” to lead into “Johnny One Note” to finish the Rodgers & Hart section. Here, Pizzarelli did a super-fast scat doubling that included an impressive, one-note open string riff.

Thompson, a young phenom still in his twenties, has played with Pizzarelli for several years. (This reporter reviewed him backing Pizzarelli at the Carlyle several years ago. See HERE). Pizzarelli gave Thompson a well-deserved spotlight for his original composition, “III. Spring Flower, Sprung Flower.” It was fascinating to watch the band listen to him raptly, eyes closed, clearly just as entranced by Thompson’s deft touch as was the audience.

Chris Byars’ brilliant arrangement of “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” (George and Ira Gershwin) was another highlight. Pizzarelli, with only his own accompaniment, sang the very rare verse, rubato, though the band humorously added an “ahhh.” Mid-song, the horn section played an extended piece alone, and Pizzarelli played a solo rhythm solo. The horns’ and Pizzarelli’s call-and-response was very exciting.

When Pizzarelli messed up a riff on his intro to “I’ve Got a Crush On You” (another Gershwin tune), he quipped, “It’s like a Peter Frampton concert,” and playfully strummed part of Frampton’s “Show Me the Way” before announcing, “We now return to our original program.”

Pizzarelli closed out the set with Jobim’s “The Waters of March” and a sizzling, unnamed instrumental. After the lights came up, the house music came on, and it seemed there would not be an encore, Pizzarelli surprised with “Strayhorn,” an instrumental written by his father, the late, great Bucky Pizzarelli.

This was a fine set by Pizzarelli and his top-notch band. It was loose, with a fluid set list. Based on Pizzarelli’s words, if you catch one of this week’s set, you won’t hear most or all of the songs mentioned in this review.

For more information about John Pizzarelli, visit https://www.johnpizzarelli.com

Tickets to the remaining sets are available on Birdland's website.