1. I Want to Be Happy
2. Cocktails for Two
3. Little White Lies
4. Raggin´ The Scale
5. Blue Too
6. You
7. Don´t Be That Way
8. Diga Diga Doo
9. I Guess I´ll Have to Change My Plan
10. You Do Something to Me
11. Melancholy Lullaby
12. The Blue Room
13. I Wrote It for Jo
14. As Long As I´m Singing
Aaron Weinstein - Violin
John Pizzarelli - Guitar, vocals (track 7)
Violin and guitar? Does that
immediately remind you of Stephane Grappelli
& Django Reinhardt? Well, Aaron Weinstein's
violin frequently resembles Grappelli's in
fluency and sweetness, although he can also
be as naughtily abrasive or wayward as Stuff
Smith. And John Pizzarelli often chugs away
on guitar to keep the rhythm flowing, just
as Django used to. But John also throws in
lots of other adventurous accompanying touches.
If there is a resemblance with another famous
violin/guitar duo, it is with Joe Venuti &
Eddie Lang. In fact Weinstein and Pizzarelli
include in their programme Raggin' the
Scale, which was a Venuti/Lang speciality.
The two musicians work together
superbly, helped by the fact that they are
both virtuosi on their instruments. Weinstein
can do a nice line in pizzicato, as you'll
hear right at the start of the album, where
he plucks the melody of I Want to Be Happy
before moving into a swirling bowed solo.
Then the two men combine in a hair-raisingly
brisk unison variation on the theme.
Most of the tunes come from
the Great American Songbook, although they
include some unhackneyed choices, like Benny
Carter's Melancholy Lullaby, Bobby
Darin's As Long as I'm Singing and
I Wrote It for Jo (composed by guitarist
George Van Eps). Pizzarelli adds one of his
engaging vocals to Don't Be That Way.
I won't single out any other
tracks, since the standard of playing is consistently
high. This is not only inventive music - it
is happy music, and it will make you feel
happy if you get this CD.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Arbors Jazz ARCD 19355
