Bucky pizzarelli

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bucky and his son John Pizzarelli

John Paul "Bucky" Pizzarelli (born January 9, 1926 in Paterson , New Jersey , † April 1, 2020 in Saddle River , New Jersey) was an American guitarist of mainstream jazz and swing .

Live and act

Pizzarelli learned guitar and banjo from the age of nine and played in the family band with his two uncles, who were also guitarists. From 1941 he played guitar in local dance bands. From 1943 to 1951, interrupted by his military service in World War II , he was in the big band of the trumpeter and singer Vaughn Monroe . From 1952 he worked with Joe Mooney and was in bands of television shows on NBC such as the Tonight Show directed by Doc Severinsen with Johnny Carson and on the show by Dick Cavett . In 1956/57 he toured with the trio The Three Sounds by Gene Harris , Andy Simpkins and Bill Dowdy . He worked as a popular rhythm guitarist in New York and toured several times with Benny Goodman until his death in 1986. From the 1970s he recorded several albums under his own name (1976 with Zoot Sims , 1975 with Bud Freeman , 1978 with Slam Stewart , 1979 with Stéphane Grappelli ) and in a duo with George Barnes (heard on the album Guitars Pure and Honest ). His son John Pizzarelli (* 1960) is also a jazz guitarist (with whom he has also recorded since 1981, for example the Stash Sessions 1980/84), his daughter Mary is a classical guitarist and his son Martin is a bassist. In early 2015 Pizzarelli recorded his last album, Renaissance (A Journey from Classical to Jazz) , which was released on Arbors Records .

Bucky also taught Pizzarelli at William Paterson College in Wayne , New Jersey. His guitar playing was influenced by Charlie Christian , but also by Nat King Cole's trio concept. Like his children John and Mary and George Van Eps , whom he heard for the first time in 1967, he used a seven-string guitar with an additional low A-string for bass. He also worked with his son Martin , a double bass player.

Pizzarelli died in spring 2020 at the age of 94 as a result of a SARS-CoV-2 infection. A week later, his wife, Ruth Elizabeth Pizzarelli, died at the age of 89; they were married for 66 years and had four children.

Discographic notes

Lexical entry

Web links

Commons : Bucky Pizzarelli  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Legendary guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli dies at 94th New Jersey Arts, April 1, 2020, accessed April 2, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b Summerfield: The Jazz Guitar , p. 161
  3. ↑ Alexander Schmitz: The guitar in jazz. Supplementary considerations on JE Berendt's article. In: Guitar & Lute. Volume 5, Issue 1 (1983), pp. 82-84, here: pp. 83 f.
  4. ^ Bucky Pizzarelli, Master of the Jazz Guitar, Is Dead at 94. After years as a relatively anonymous session musician, Mr. Pizzarelli, who has died of the coronavirus, became a mainstay of the New York jazz scene. The New York Times, April 2, 2020, accessed April 2, 2020 .
  5. ^ Obituary for Ruth Elizabeth Pizzarelli. Legacy.com, April 17, 2020, accessed April 17, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Pizzarelli, Bucky
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pizzarelli, John Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz guitarist
DATE OF BIRTH January 9, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Paterson , New Jersey
DATE OF DEATH April 1, 2020
Place of death Saddle River, New Jersey