John Pizzarelli - Double Exposure - Jazz - CD

DOUBLE EXPOSURE, Pizzarellis latest recording on Telarc a division of Concord Music Group focuses on two distinct styles to make a single fine recording. Set for release on May 15, 2012, DOUBLE EXPOSURE is a collection of tunes by some of the great pop songwriters of his own generation that are framed squarely within traditional jazz arrangements. The result is a fascinating and engaging musical hybrid. DOUBLE EXPOSURE draws from a diverse pool of some of the best pop songwriters of the past five decades: Lennon and McCartney, Neil Young, James Taylor, Leiber and Stoller, Tom Waits, Joni Mitchell and others. Woven into these memorable compositions are threads of jazz borrowed from figures like Wes Montgomery, Billy Strayhorn, Thad Jones and John Coltrane.

On this album, jazz guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli pays simultaneous tribute to the pop music of his adolescence (Steely Dan, Billy Joel, the Allman Brothers, Elvis Costello) and the jazz tradition in which he, as a member of the celebrated Pizzarelli dynasty, was steeped from his earliest years. The album title refers to the fact that the program takes classic pop songs and puts them in jazz settings: thus you'll hear a cool bossa nova arrangement of Joni Mitchell's "Free Man in Paris," a completely natural lounge-lizard setting of Tom Waits' "Drunk on the Moon," and a hard-swinging, boppish version of James Taylor's "Traffic Jam" that sounds like it was written for the Manhattan Transfer and incorporates the Joe Henderson composition "The Kicker." There's nothing particularly revolutionary about this idea: the line separating pop music and jazz has always been fuzzy anyway, and many jazz standards are actually show tunes. But Pizzarelli is an unusually gifted arranger as well as a drop-dead wonderful guitarist, and on several of these arrangements he suggests entirely new ways of thinking about these familiar songs. Consider, for example, his subtly elegant use of organ and violin on Neil Young's "Harvest Moon," or the way he sneaks material from Wes Montgomery's "Four on Six" into a snappy rendition of the Allman Brothers' instrumental "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed." It's also true that Pizzarelli is not gifted with a conventionally beautiful voice. He is, however, an excellent singer: listen the how he makes the most of what he's got on his voice-and-guitar bossa nova setting of Billy Joel's "Rosalinda's Eyes." What's charming about this album, beyond the sheer quality of the songs and the arrangements, is Pizzarelli's obvious and genuine love for this really broad gamut of material, and his insight into the varied qualities that make them all great songs. ~ Rick Anderson, Rovi

Performer	John Pizzarelli
Music genre	Jazz
Music subgenre	Swing
Music release type	Release
Media format	CD
Original release date	2012
Edition	Standard
Language	English
Is collectible	N
Has parental advisory label	N
Number of discs	1
Series title	John Pizzarelli - Double Exposure [CD]
Track listing	I Feel Fine, Harvest Moon, Traffic Jam, Ruby Baby, Alison, Rosalinda's Eyes, Elizabeth Reed, Drunk on the Moon, Walk Between Raindrops, Free Man in Paris, Take a Lot of Pictures, I Can Let Go Now, Diamond Girl
Record label	Telarc
Songwriter	Lennon and McCartney, Neil Young, James Taylor, Leiber and Stoller, Tom Waits, Joni Mitchell
Track name	I Feel Fine / Sidewinder, Harvest Moon, Traffic Jam / The Kicker, Ruby Baby, Alison, Rosalinda's Eyes, In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed, Drunk On The Moon / Lush Life, Walk Between The Raindrops, Free Man In Paris, Take A Lot Of Pictures, I Can Let Go Now, Diamond Girl
Music media format	CD
Is edited	N
Is enhanced	N