Bucky Pizzarelli & Benny Green

Jun 16-Jun 17, 2009

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Benny Green
 
Born in New York in 1963, Benny Green grew up in Berkeley, California, and began classical piano studies at the age of seven. Influenced by his father, a tenor saxophonist, his attention soon turned into Jazz. Green followed his lineage playing with Eddie Henderson as a teenager before working with Betty Carter between 1983 and 1987. He then joined Art Blakey's band and remained a Jazz Messenger through late 1989, at which point he began working with Freddie Hubbard's quintet. In 1993 Oscar Peterson chose Green as the first recipient of the City of Toronto's Glen Gould International Protégé Prize in Music. Shortly thereafter, Green replaced Gene Harris in Ray Brown's Trio, working with the veteran bassist until 1997. From that point on, Benny resumed his freelance career, leading his own trios and performing solo piano. He recorded for Criss Cross and Blue Note in the 1990s. In 2000, his debut recording on Telarc Jazz entitled Naturally was released, which featured bassist Christian McBride and guitarist Russell Malone, musicians who have both inspired and challenged him to explore new territory. With the 2002 release of Green's Blues, Benny returned to his roots and updated the tradition with an exciting solo collection of jazz standards by Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Erroll Garner and George Gershwin, among others, with his highly personal style. Benny followed with the 2003 release on Telarc, Jazz at the Bistro, a duo recording with guitarist Russell Malone, dedicated to the memory of the late jazz bassist Ray Brown. He cites key influences as Art Tatum, Erroll Garner, Hank Jones, Ahmad Jamal, Phineas Newborn, Bud Powell and Oscar Peterson. Now 46, an Oscar Peterson protégé, Green summarizes his approach to jazz as “…to just swing and have fun, and share those feelings with the audience … and if I'm able to convey that, then I feel like I'm doing something positive.”
 “Benny often sounds as if he could be holding forth at a Harlem rent party in the 1930’s or appearing on ‘Piano Playhouse’ in the 1940’s.” – JazzTimes

“Green is a young classicist, and one of the better ones playing the piano: he plays funky and hard, and breathes not only be-bop but Oscar Peterson’s virtuosic effusions as well.”
–The New York Times

Bucky Pizzarelli

John Paul 'Bucky' Pizzarelli (born January 9, 1926), is a veteran of nearly six decades of touring and studio sessions as a popular American classical swing jazz guitarist and banjoist. Exposed to music early through his professional musicians, uncles, the New Jersey native became a self-taught master of the banjo and seven-string guitar. The legendary Bucky Pizzarelli has had a stellar career. “The complete jazz musician”, he was a fixture in jazz and the studios since the early ‘50s. John worked for NBC as a staff man for Dick Cavett (1951) playing with Doc Severinson’s band and also ABC with Bobby Rosengarden in (1952). The list of big bands and vocalists with whom Bucky has performed and recorded reads like a veritable Who's Who of Jazz. One of the era's most solid rhythm players, Pizzarelli was in high demand, playing and touring with Benny Goodman, Les Paul, Zoot Sims, Bud Freeman, and Stéphane Grappelli, and, later, recording with George Van Eps, Carl Kress and George Barnes. In the 1970s, he performed in duo with George Barnes and worked with Zoot Sims, Bud Freeman, and Stéphane Grappelli. Since the 1980s, he has often performed and recorded with son, guitarist/vocalist John Pizzarelli. He also has performed with this other musical offspring, bassist Martin Pizzarelli and classical guitarist Mary. Bucky plays classical guitar himself and is now Emeritus faculty of William Paterson College. His superior mastery of the seven-string guitar is unparalleled. The beloved guitarist has developed a very personal style that sets him apart. He lives in Saddle River, New Jersey, with his wife, Ruth.

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