John Pizzarelli & Jessica Molaskey: Grownup Songs

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John Pizzarelli & Jessica Molaskey

 Grownup Songs

Café Carlyle, NYC, October 28, 2014

Reviewed by Elizabeth Ahlfors

John-Pizzarelli-Jessica-Molaskey-Cabaret-Scenes-Magazine_212At the Café Carlyle, the little things John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey do together, fusing pop, jazz, theater and original songs, set the tone of their show, Grownup Songs. This coolest of couples uses the wry cynicism from Stephen Sondheim’s Company song as they forage through the songbook toward love and commitment, finding roads less traveled. Yet not all is stinging sophistication.

It was Sondheim’s songs that permeated the show, and who writes more “grownup” songs than Sondheim? Who interprets them with sharper wit and perspicacity than Pizzarelli and Molaskey? The couple leads the pack in pairing songs, always uniquely well-mated and illuminating a point from different positions. The uncertain memories in “Remember?” (A Little Night Music) were poignantly delivered by Molaskey and shrewdly mated with Pizzarelli’s focused regret in “The Road You Didn’t Take” (Follies). The bickering in “Country House” from the London production of that show joins with Paul and Linda McCartney’s bouncy “Heart of the Country.”

With the innocence of another era and their own viewpoints, listen to their sweet, complex pairing of evergreens “You Made Me Love You (I Didn’t Want to Do It)” and “It Had to Be You.” They ended the show gently combining Irving Berlin’s “Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)” with “Seasons of Love” by Jonathan Larson from Rent, transparent in a message of gratitude. Pairing Adam Guettel’s teary “Dividing Day” with Billy Joel’s “Lullaby” is a tender and subtle move.

Experienced actor/singer Molaskey trusts the good songwriters and their intent, imbuing her renditions with lush warmth, sharp urbanity and sudden sparks of wit. Pizzarelli approaches the pinnacle of jazz guitar masters, tearing through up-tempo tunes and also finding well-nuanced depth in ballads. “How High the Moon” (Nancy Hamilton and Morgan Lewis) is high-octane versatility. With the band—Konrad Paszkudzki on piano, bassist Martin Pizzarelli and Kevin Kanner on drums—they carried the vigor of the streets into the Café Carlyle with Bud Powell’s be-bop composition, “Parisian Thoroughfare.” Pizzarelli pointed out that the tune had gained fame in performances by the Clifford Brown and Max Roach Quintet. Outstanding in the vein of jazz and frustration is James Taylor’s “Traffic Jam,” with countermelody of Joe Henderson’s “The Kicker” with Molaskey’s original vocalese.

Original songs include “Dry Martini” with the advice of Mae West: “Get out of those wet clothes and into a dry martini,” and “The Forecast Is Love.”

John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey—always fresh, always evocative, always aiming a bull’s-eye to the heart and mind.

The duo continues at Café Carlyle through November 22.

Elizabeth Ahlfors

Born and raised in New York, Elizabeth graduated from NYU with a degree in Journalism. She has lived in various cities and countries and now is back in NYC. She has written magazine articles and published three books: A Housewife’s Guide to Women’s Liberation, Twelve American Women, and Heroines of ’76 (for children). A great love was always music and theater—in the audience, not performing. A Philadelphia correspondent for Theatre.com and InTheatre Magazine, she has reviewed theater and cabaret for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia City News. She writes for Cabaret Scenes and other cabaret/theater sites. She is a judge for Nightlife Awards and a voting member of Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle.