Jazz Giant Bucky Pizzarelli

We’ve lost another giant of jazz to the virus. Bucky Pizzarelli put a lot of picking into his 94 years.

He was neighbors and friends with Les Paul, and got his start at 17 playing with Vaughn Monroe’s band. During his time as a staff musician for NBC, playing with Skitch Henderson and The Tonight Show Band when Johnny Carson was host (where he tuned Tiny Tim’s ukulele) he backed up many high-profile guests. He toured several times with Benny Goodman and other bands, and was in demand as a studio session guitarist, playing with many of the greats on lots of notable albums. He performed before presidents Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and First Lady Pat Nixon.

He played right up to 2018, even after a stroke in 2016.

But his finest productions were his children, John and Martin Pizzarelli who carry on the family tradition recording standards and introducing new generations to jazz, and daughter Mary, a classical guitarist. John is married to Broadway star and singer Jessica Molasky and they often perform and record together. Bucky played on three of her solo records.

For you guitarists, you might be interested to know that Bucky learned to play 7-string guitar from George Van Epps, has his signature line with Benedetto Guitars. John also plays with 7 strings.

So many good recordings left behind, it seems that we can revisit Bucky whenever we want, but he will be sorely missed.