John Pizzarelli

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John Paul Pizzarelli Jr. (born April 6, 1960) is an American jazz guitarist, singer, songwriter. He is probably best known for his leadership of the John Pizzarelli Trio, featuring his brother Martin on bass and Ray Kennedy on the eighty-eight and for his performance as the singer on the Foxwoods Casino TV and radio commercials. He is the son of legendary jazz guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli.

[edit] Music & Performance

Despite his young age, John Pizzarelli has recorded nearly 40 albums of music, either as the leader or in tandem with other performers. Among others, Pizzarelli has recorded with such luminaries as George Shearing, Rosemary Clooney, and Buddy DeFranco, as well as the Boston Pops Orchestra. Many if not most of his albums have received good to excellent reviews and are very popular sellers. Additionally, he has been a guest performer on numerous records throughout his career.

Particularly lauded for his classy interpretations of jazz standards, Pizzarelli also composes his own songs, some of which have achieved a sort of modern "standard" status in their own right. He is also a fan of bossa nova and released an album entirely composed of that type of music.

Perhaps his most famous and highly-regarded album, though, is Dear Mr. Cole, an album featuring Pizzarelli's versions of some of Nat "King" Cole's most famous songs. Interestingly, the John Pizzarelli Trio only appears together on track one of the album, Style is Back in Style. The rest of the album features Pizzarelli performing with Christian McBride on bass and Benny Green on the ivories.

Pizzarelli is also known for his winning personality, and his great rapport with audiences during his live performances has gone a long way to garnering him cachet with the jazz public.

Pizzarelli also sings the theme for Foxwoods Casino, "The Wonder of It All."

[edit] Personal life

Pizzarelli grew up in Bergen County, New Jersey and attended Don Bosco Preparatory High School in Ramsey, NJ, an all-boys Roman Catholic High School. He frequently expresses pride about being from New Jersey; a fan favorite at his live shows is the Cosgriff-Bernardi number I Like Jersey Best, a largely humorous tribute to the Garden State.

Pizzarelli is a huge baseball fan, and has played the sport (in one capacity or another) all his life. In high school he split his time between studying music and playing sports. As he once said in an interview: "I wasn't making any of the sports teams and I was a big sports fanatic. That's when I realized there was a reason why I was going to band practice."

He married singer Jessica Molaskey in 1998, and the couple have a daughter, Madeleine Elizabeth.