John “Bucky” Pizzarelli was born January 9, 1926 in Paterson, New Jersey and currently lives in Saddle River. The list of artists he’s played with reads like a who’s who in jazz history. He’ll be celebrating his 85th birthday with a concert on Tuesday, January 11th at the Bickford Theatre in Morris Township. I recently got the chance to wish him happy birthday and talk about his career…
GARY: How did you get the nickname Bucky?
BUCKY: When my father was 16, he hitch-hiked down to Odessa, Texas. He was the first Italian cowboy! He was a cowboy for a couple of years. Later on when he got married – much later – his first born was me and he called me Bucky.
You’ve had such an amazing career that keeps on going. Do you still get as much of a kick out of playing as you did in the beginning?
I do, yeah. That’s what I wanted to do and I just keep going. It’s really not a job; it’s a lot of fun!
I know you’re aware of it, but not many people are aware that so many great jazz musicians came from New Jersey. You’ve certainly played and recorded with most of them. Any idea why this area has been so great for music?
Well there’s a big population of guitar players here. I can name a whole gang of them: Tony Gottuso, Al Casamenti, Tony Mottola, Al Caiola – all guitar players! Read the rest of this entry »
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