from The Seattle Times:




In the post-bop world of jazz, the guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli is a novel concept. He is a jazz musician who remembers when his job description was to play dance music; he prefers to be a sideman and would sooner strum than pick; you would not call his style minimalist, but he understands getting more out of less, preferring elegance over speed.

He is not without ego, but does not covet the title “composer” before his name. He is a classic, jazz guitar player, the likes of whom are few and becoming more rare.

“I know the business upside down, and I know what you’re supposed to do when you play for an audience,” said Pizzarelli, who, at age 83, is one of the oldest working jazz musicians around. “You got to entertain them. That’s gotten lost I think. It’s always, ‘Then I wrote this, and then I wrote this.’ You don’t hear ‘Tea For Two’ or ‘Smoke Gets In Your Eyes,’ or ‘Stardust,’ those great standards.”

Continue reading at The Seattle Times:

Category:
Seattle Jazz