(upbeat guitar music) ♪ I call her Firely ♪ 'Cause, oh my, she radiates moonglow ♪ - We're so excited that you're coming to Detroit again, this time, not as part of the big festival, but as part of a very intimate and elegant, yet swinging and soulful evening for Cabaret 313.

And we'll talk more about how Cabaret 313 sets it up for you.

It's really cool.

But first, "Doe Ray Me" is the very good place to start.

- Basically, it begins in Patterson, New Jersey, where I was born April 6th, 1960.

I was the son of Bucky and Ruth Pizzarelli.

Bucky Pizzarelli being one of the great jazz guitarists and studio figures in New York City for 60 years.

And his uncles taught him how to play guitar, taught me how to play tenor banjo.

And then in my teen years, I, along with learning a lot of rock and roll music, I listened to a lot of the music my father was part of.

And we became a team somewhere in the early '80s, I guess around 1980.

We made a record, a couple of records in the '80s.

And then I started to listen to the music of The King Cole Trio and started to learn some of the repertoire.

"Route 66," "Frim Fram Sauce," "Straighten Up and Fly," right?

And at that point, when I would work with my father, I would sing a little, I made a record in '83, in '84 and '87 singing.

And I think the real big record was called "My Blue Heaven" in 1990, which I made singing with Dave McKenna, Clark Terry, Connie Kay, Milt Hinton, and Bucky Pizzarelli.

I've been very lucky.

I got to do what I want to do.

I can play, "I Got Rhythm" for a living, and I got to work with some of the great musicians on the planet, and it's been quite a wonderful ride.

♪ But when I get her there, set her there ♪ ♪ Do I get to pet her there ♪ And grab me some glow ♪ No, she's a gad about, mad about ♪ ♪ Luring every lad about ♪ While leaving me moaning low - Another great thing about you, John Pizzarelli, is that you're willing to take a few seconds and tell the story if that particular song really has a neat backstory and tell it.

- Yeah.

I mean, it's part of the presentation, you know, to make sure people who, I always say, there's two groups of people.

There's the John Pizzarelli fan and the person who came with them.

And that's the person that you wanna introduce constantly.

Remember that there's somebody out there who will say, "You know, I don't like jazz, but I like what you do."

- Part of that good category is a chemistry that you develop with the other members of the trio inspired by Art Tatum and Nat King Cole.

So let's talk about those guys 'cause they are on the new CD.

- Yes, they are.

And they've been... Mike Karn, who plays bass with me, has been with me for 10 years.

And Isaiah joined in 2019, December of 2019, and immediately got a year-and-a-half off for good behavior in 2020 into 2021.

But we have a nice chemistry and we figured out our strengths and the things that we can do together.

And we present all of them on "Dear Mr.

Bennett," as we did on stage and screen the record before that.

There's just the idea of the rhythm section, à la Nat King Cole.

But then there's sort of the ideas of the Oscar Peterson Trio in there and then just the great rhythm sections of the '60s with, you know, Bucky on rhythm guitar and Milt Hinton and those guys - When you were at the Detroit Jazz Festival and looked out on the audience, I thought, "Oh, look at those guitarists out there.

"They wanna see the seven string in action."

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

And, of course, hear you.

So what can we expect when you and Isaiah and Mike come and play for us in Detroit at Cabaret 313?

- We'll do a crisscross of the "Great American Songbook."

We'll play some Duke Ellington.

We'll play some things from our Tony Bennett record and from stage and screen and some bossanova.

We just do a good crisscross of the trio's greatest hits over the, well, the 10 years that Mike's been in the band, and then the five years of Isaiah.

So it really is, it's a terrific evening and we have some great sections of those things planned out to make it informative and fun.

And it goes perfectly with that little taste.

♪ Latch on to you ♪ Know how, oh how ♪ I love you, but gee ♪ While you set the night on firefly ♪ ♪ Shine a little light on me - Thank you.

And the management team and whatever for hooking up with Cabaret 313 to come and honor Tony Bennett for us.

Just a little bit about the recording.

How can people who are listening, viewing pick one up?

- Oh, you can download them wherever you stream your music.

We'll have records on hand when we're playing in Detroit, and I guess wherever you buy your records, they'll be out there.

You can get them, have them delivered to your house.

And there's even vinyl.

So it's on Green Hill is the name of the company that put the record out, and we're just thrilled with it.

We had a little picture that Tony Bennett drew of me on the cover there, which is so sweet and very proud of the record.

And it's out there.

You can find it.

Go to johnpizzarelli.com for your every John Pizzarelli need.

♪ While you set the night on, firefly ♪ ♪ Shine a little light on ♪ Shine a little light on ♪ Shine a little light on me