As guitarist and vocalist John Pizzarelli puts it, there was a "brief shining moment" when he thought he would become a pop star like Jackson Browne, Billy Joel, or James Taylor.
In 2023, when Pizzarelli came to the KNKX Studios, he brought that early dream—and his current one—as he explored his career in jazz music, and how it's allowed him to work with some of his favorite popular songwriters.
Pizzarelli is a master of the Great American Songbook. He's a swinging guitarist and singer in the mold of Nat King Cole. The son of the great guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, who played with pop stars like Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, John followed in the footsteps of his jazz guitarist father by also collaborating with his own pop heroes, like James Taylor.
In 2020, Pizzarelli produced Taylor's Grammy winning album, American Standard. The record is a collection of jazz standards shaped by Taylor's unique guitar and vocal style. Pizzarelli explained that Taylor couldn't help putting his own distinct musical personality on each standard during the recording process.
"He'd always put [in] those little licks [plays on guitar.] And that was the beauty of the record, is that he James Taylor-ized the songs, and he had a harmonic vision, too," Pizzarelli said.
Pizzarelli already had some experience in helping pop stars make jazz standards albums. After recording his own tribute records to The Beatles and Paul McCartney, Pizzarelli co-produced McCartney's album of standards, Kisses on the Bottom, in 2012.
In KNKX's studios, Pizzarelli and his guitar showed how pop music can be turned into jazz by being a little silly with McCartney's mid-'70s classic "Silly Love Songs" and performing it as a reharmonized bossa nova.
"[On] that Paul McCartney record, that was the whole idea, and the Beatles record before that. Find some nice chords that work, and think of them as jazz songs and not Beatle songs. And then hopefully it works out," Pizzarelli said.
If the multi-talented Pizzarelli is playing or producing it, odds are it will.
Songs heard in this episode:
- "Here's Looking At You Kid"
- "Straighten Up and Fly Right"
- "James"
- "I Got Rhythm"
