Cécile McLorin Salvant, one of her generation’s finest jazz singers, throws a high-concept curveball on her coming album, “Mélusine.” It retells a European folk tale — about love, a curse, broken promises and reptilian transformations — in songs new and old. “D’un Feu Secret” (“Of a Secret Fire”) is indeed old. It was composed in 1660 by Michel Lambert. “I could be cured If I stopped loving/But I prefer the disease,” it vows. McLorin sings it like an early music performer, poised and delicate with feathery ornaments. But the accompaniment, from her longtime keyboardist and collaborator Sullivan Fortner, is on synthesizers, savoring the anachronism. —JON PARELES
The Texas Songwriters Association has named Alligator Records artist Marcia Ball its 2023 “Texas Music Legend.” She will be presented with the coveted Darryl K. Royal (DKR) Texas Music Legends Award in a ceremony to be held on February 25, 2023 in Austin, Texas. Find more information here. Previous DKR Texas Music Legend awardees include songwriter/musician Stephen Bruton and Ray Benson of Asleep At The Wheel.
Ball is simply overjoyed, saying, “I can’t contain myself, and I am so grateful for this amazing honor bestowed by the Texas Heritage Songwriters Association. I know I am in some really good company. Thank you so much!”
Acclaimed guitarist/vocalist John Pizzarelli celebrates the 40th anniversary of his debut album with a collection of classic songs from Broadway and Hollywood
Stage & Screen, due out April 21, 2023 via Palmetto Records, features songs spanning nearly a century, given new life by Pizzarelli, bassist Mike Karn and pianist Isaiah J. Thompson
World-renowned guitarist and vocalist John Pizzarelli has dedicated many of his albums to the great songwriters and performers who have helped to establish the Great American Songbook and the pop music canon: Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Paul McCartney, Richard Rodgers, and Duke Ellington, to name a few. With his new album, Pizzarelli and his remarkable new trio cast a wider net to explore other sources for the most immortal songs of the past century: the Broadway stage and the silver screen.
Due out April 21, 2023 via Palmetto Records, Pizzarelli’s Stage & Screen finds inspiration in classic songs from Broadway musicals and Hollywood films. The cleverly chosen repertoire spans nearly nine decades, starting with a pair of songs from the 1925 musical No, No, Nanette (“I Want To Be Happy” and “Tea For Two”) and leading into the 21st century with “I Love Betsy” from Jason Robert Brown’s “Honeymoon in Vegas” – a stage musical based on the 1992 film. In between there are pieces by such iconic songwriters and composers as Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein II, Leonard Bernstein, Sammy Cahn, and Jule Styne, and songs immortalized in cinema favorites like Casablanca.
First Single, “Just in Time”, Streaming Now
Stage & Screen also celebrates the 40th anniversary of Pizzarelli’s 1983 debut recording, I’m Hip (Please Don’t Tell My Father). Over the ensuing four decades he’s become one of the most acclaimed interpreters of classic and modern song and an influential advocate for the continuing evolution of the standards songbook. His albums have delved into that rich pool of song from a variety of angles, Stage & Screen providing an inviting new twist.
“In thinking about some of the songs that I really love to play, it struck me how many of them come from either a Broadway show or from a movie,” Pizzarelli explains. “An idea like Stage & Screen frees me to explore a wide range of songwriters and eras, and it continues to offer a wealth of new possibilities.”
He’s joined for the occasion by his new trio featuring bassist Mike Karn and pianist Isaiah J. Thompson, two tremendous talents with whom Pizzarelli quickly discovered a scintillating chemistry, even with a two- year disruption to their touring schedule. While Karn has been working with Pizzarelli for the last seven years, Thompson joined the trio only three years ago, in late December 2019. A few months later his tenure was interrupted by the pandemic, only for the band to pick up again in August 2021. Stage & Screen was recorded a few short months later, but the band sounds like it’s logged years on the road.
“This is a great little group, and I can go to a lot of different places with Mike and Isaiah,” Pizzarelli raves. He was in the market for a new bassist in 2015, while thinking about a return to small group playing and, in particular, a drumless trio. He asked two friends, trombonist John Mosca and saxophonist Harry Allen, for recommendations. The one name common to both lists was Mike Karn.
Pizzarelli met Thompson even earlier, in 2013 when the pianist was just 16 years old. The guitarist was hosting a film and performance series at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, New York (in whose studio Stage & Screen was recorded), accompanied by students from Jazz House Kids, the non-profit organization founded by Melissa Walker and Christian McBride. Young Thompson made an impact even then, and when Pizzarelli asked McBride to recommend a pianist and saw Thompson’s name among the possibilities, he recalled that first impression. “I always joke that I would have hired him right away, but he had to go to the prom first,” Pizzarelli laughs.
Stage & Screen opens with a sparkling take on “Too Close for Comfort,” a song from the 1956 musical Mr. Wonderful. Pizzarelli became reacquainted with the tune while watching video of his father, the late guitar great Bucky Pizzarelli, perform it with saxophonist Zoot Sims. Jason Robert Brown gave his blessing for Pizzarelli to edit “I Love Betsy” into a concise three-verse list song, while he restored the seldom-sung verse to “As Time Goes By,” indelibly associated with Casablanca. For Pizzarelli, the song also evokes a memory of performing it at the Algonquin Hotel in 1991 before a crowd that included Tony Bennett – from whose recording he had learned that verse I the first place. “He looked at me and nodded his head like, ‘Keep going, kid,’” Pizzarelli recalls.
“I Want To Be Happy” is performed as a blazing instrumental showcasing Pizzarelli’s agile seven-string prowess, while several pieces from the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! are compiled into a stunning suite. “Tea For Two” is atypically rendered as a gentle ballad, inspired by Blossom Dearie’s memorable version. The urgent “Just in Time” is drawn from 1956’s Bells Are Ringing, the haunting “Some Other Time” – a solo guitar spotlight for Pizzarelli – from Bernstein’s On the Town.
Much of the album’s repertoire was inspired by Pizzarelli’s weekly Thursday night livestream concerts on Facebook, including the unique bossa nova arrangement of “Where or When,” from the 1937 Rodgers and Hart musical Babes in Toyland. One of the most oft-requested songs in that series was “Time After Time,” which Frank Sinatra introduced in the 1947 MGM film It Happened in Brooklyn. The sprightly “You’re All the World to Me” was penned for the 1951 movie musical Royal Wedding, starring Fred Astaire. The set closes with “Coffee in a Cardboard Cup,” a Pizzarelli favorite from the little-known Kander and Ebb musical 70, Girls, 70.
“The idea of taking these songs out of the context of their shows or movies was interesting to me,” Pizzarelli says. “With a new arrangement you can change the meaning of a song. That’s what we’ve been doing all of our lives as jazz musicians – trying to figure out how to make these classic songs different, whether it’s a Songbook standard or a Beatles hit. It’s always a lot of fun.”
John Pizzarelli
Guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli has been hailed by the Boston Globe for “reinvigorating the Great American Songbook and re-popularizing jazz.” Established as one of the prime contemporary interpreters of the Great American Songbook, Pizzarelli has expanded that repertoire by including the music of Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Tom Waits, Antônio Carlos Jobim and the Beatles. In addition to being a bandleader and solo performer, Pizzarelli has been a special guest on recordings for major pop names such as Natalie Cole, Kristin Chenoweth, Tom Wopat, Rickie Lee Jones and Dave Van Ronk, as well as leading jazz artists such as Rosemary Clooney, Ruby Braff, Johnny Frigo, Buddy DeFranco, Harry Allen and, of course, his father Bucky Pizzarelli. He won a Grammy Award in the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category as co-producer of James Taylor’s American Standard in 2021. A radio personality who got his start in the medium in 1984, Pizzarelli is co-host, alongside wife Jessica Molaskey, of Radio Deluxe with John Pizzarelli. He has performed on America’s most popular national television shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Conan, and Great Performances, as well as the talk shows of Jay Leno, David Letterman, Regis Philbin and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
An invitation-only industry presentation, co-directed by Stephen Lloyd Helper and Arminda Thomas, will take place in New York City on Tuesday, March 7th and Wednesday, March 8th. Special show finale appearance by Bobby Rush!
Bluesman Bobby Rush’s stories extend farther than cotton fields to Chitlin’ Circuit, a book to Grammy wins, an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities to Bobby Rush Boulevard. Indeed, he’s more than his two Grammy wins, 14 Blues Music Awards, 400 plus recordings, and 27 studio albums. He’s survived both the Jim Crow era and a serious bus crash that took a bandmate’s life. He’s been wrongfully arrested and left for dead by police. He’s lost three children. He’s been ripped off for millions. He’s not just a survivor; he’s a fighter.
Slippin’ Through the Cracks, a new musical about the legendary bluesman, is currently in development. Rush wrote the music and lyrics, as well as the book with Stephen Lloyd Helper, who conceived the Broadway hit Smokey Joe’s Café. Helper serves as co-director of the production, and the musical is co-directed by Arminda Thomas, with musical direction by Felton Offard.
Michael Cleveland, the most awarded International Bluegrass Music Association Fiddle Player of the Year, with twelve wins to his name, has a new album on the horizon titled Lovin’ Of The Game, set to release on March 3 via Compas Records. His last offering, Tall Fiddler–which earned him the Grammy for Best Blue Grass Album in 2019–saw assistance from Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Tommy Emmanuel, Béla Fleck, Tim O’Brien, Dan Tyminski, Del McCoury, and The Travelin’ McCourys, and his upcoming offering is too, rooted in collaboration.
Though the collaborations were not in person, as the project was created during the COVID-19 pandemic, Cleveland’s ears and heart were as poised as ever to connect, harmonize and motivate during those dark days and resulting in collaborations with the likes of Jeff White, Dan Tyminsky, Charlie Starr, Josh Richards, Billy Strings, Vince Gill, Greg Poulos and more.
Today, we premiere “One Horse Town,” a song Cleveland first heard from his guitar player in Flamekeeper Josh Richards, after he shared a clip of him playing and singing it on Facebook. The two were unable to play together, and touring had stopped, but Richards told Cleveland about the song’s creators, Blackberry Smoke, and he swiftly became a fan.
The Blues Foundation revealed the nominees for the 44th annual Blues Awards
The Blues Music Awards bring together Blues performers, industry representatives, and fans from all over the world to celebrate the best in Blues recordings and performances from the previous year.
The BMAs are generally recognized as the highest honor given to blues musicians and are awarded by vote of Blues Foundation members.
The 44th annual Blues Music Awards will take place on May 10th at Renasant Convention Center in Memphis. A blue carpet pre-show will begin at 5 p.m. and will be followed by the awards gala.
B.B. King Entertainer of the Year Sugaray Rayford Tommy Castro Eric Gales Bobby Rush Mr. Sipp (Castro Coleman)
Blues Rock Artist Walter Trout Albert Castiglia Tommy Castro Joanne Shaw Taylor Tinsley Ellis
Contemporary Blues Male Artist Selwyn Birchwood Chris Cain Christone “Kingfish” Ingram Ronnie Baker Brooks Mr. Sipp (Castro Coleman)
Béla Fleck and Punch Brothers’ “My Bluegrass Heart” tour stop at the Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts in Greensboro, North Carolina, shimmered like new light through an old window.
All the musicianship, improvisation and authenticity you would expect from a virtuoso cast of bluegrass performers was on full display during the Dec. 13 show, but so was a glimpse of the sunny disposition and future of the string-band, roots genre.
The tour is a celebration of Fleck’s September 2021 release, My Bluegrass Heart, which won a Grammy in 2022 for Best Bluegrass Album – Fleck’s 16th trophy. My Bluegrass Heart features appearances from a number of artists including Punch Brothers mandolinist Chris Thile. It is the third chapter in a trilogy of records that started in 1988 with Drive and The Bluegrass Sessions, which was released in 1991 and featured now-gone legends John Hartford, Vassar Clements and Earl Scruggs. After 24 years, the latest record is a 19-track, two-hour collection of non-traditional music adapted for a bluegrass band with 25 contributors.
