John Pizzarelli: Stage & Screen

Guitarist/vocalist John Pizzarelli's Stage & Screen salutes songs from Broadway and Hollywood. However, there is also a subtext in five songs on the track list in which "time" is featured either prominently or covertly, as it deals with love lost, found, unrequited or déjà vu. In this recital, Pizzarelli is joined by bassist Mike Karn and pianist Isaiah J. Thompson as they work smoothly together to trace the harmonic seams and essence of each tune.

The opener, "Too Close For Comfort," was composed by Jerry Bock/George Davis Weiss/Larry Holofcener for the Broadway musical Mr. Wonderful and was made popular by Frank Sinatra. In this impetuous and vivacious approach to the number, the band creates layers of rhythm over which Pizzarelli's feathery vocal is in breezy command. "I Want To Be Happy" was written by Vincent Youmans and Irving Caesar as the running theme from the 1925 musical No, No, Nanette. Pizzarelli uses the number as a jumping-off point for a scintillating instrumental performance using a seven-string guitar, having learned the technique from his esteemed guitarist father Bucky Pizzarelli.

Three of the five numbers associated with "time" are strung together, starting with "Just In Time" from the 1956 musical Bells Are Ringing." With his amiable and flexible voice, Pizzarelli gives the number an energetic reading with some improvisational vocalizing in harmony with his crisp guitar playing. "Some Other Time" from Leonard Bernstein's On The Town is a solo excursion for Pizzarelli on acoustic guitar over which he demonstrates his fleet command. In 1937, Rodgers and Hart wrote the musical Babes In Arms that became a film in 1939 starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in which the composition "Where Or When" was prominently featured. Pizzarelli updates the number with a distinctive bossa nova beat that in no way deflects from the déjà vu interpretation of the lyrics: "Some things that happened for the first time/Seem to be happening again."

Continuing the "time" theme, Pizzarelli takes up "Time After Time" which Sinatra introduced in the 1947 MGM film It Happened in Brooklyn. Beautifully supported by pianist Thompson, Pizzarelli delivers the ballad in a heartfelt manner capturing the poignancy of the lyrics. The final composition in this category almost requires no introduction or explanation. "As Time Goes By" was used as a leitmotif in the 1942 romantic drama Casablanca, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Avoiding the musical clichés between the number and the movie, Pizzarrelli brings a nimble grace to his interpretation of the lyrics.

As there are no liner notes to this release, it might have been interesting to learn why so many of Pizzarelli's favorite songs have a "time" connection.