# CD review: John Pizzarelli Trio – For Centennial Reasons: 100 Year Salute to Nat King Cole 2019: Video, CD cover

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2019/02/16/cd-review-john-pizzarelli-trio-for-centennial-reasons-100-year-salute-to-nat-king-cole-2019-video-cd-cover/
- Published: 2019-02-16T14:19:31+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Ghostlight Deluxe, an imprint of Ghostlight Records, will release For Centennial
Reasons: 100 Year Salute to Nat King Cole – the new album from the John Pizzarelli
Trio – in physical, digital and streaming formats on Friday, February 8. Following
high-profile collaborations with Sir Paul McCartney and Michael McDonald, Pizzarelli
returns to his roots to honor his hero, the legendary jazz/pop vocalist and pianist
Nat King Cole, whose centennial is being celebrated around the world this year with
various concerts, books and recordings. **

For Centennial Reasons… completes an epic trio of Pizzarelli albums saluting Cole,
starting with Dear Mr. Cole, which helped put Pizzarelli on the map as an influential
jazz guitarist and singer in 1994, and continuing with P.S. Mr. Cole, which cemented
his legacy five years later.

For Centennial Reasons… – featuring John Pizzarelli on guitar and vocals, Mike Karn
on double bass, and Konrad Paszkudzki on piano – is produced by John Pizzarelli 
and co-produced by Jessica Molaskey. National tour dates are available at JohnPizzarelli.
com.

“Nat King Cole is the reason why I do what I do,” comments Pizzarelli. “The joy 
that he brought me has never faded and the musicality of his group remains fresh
and vibrant to this day. I even got to work with Natalie Cole, Nat’s daughter, meet
Nat’s wife Maria Cole, and become friends with and play with Freddy Cole, Nat’s 
brother. We are lucky to have lived in a world that gave us Nat Cole, the man and
the music.”

For Centennial Reasons… features several songs Pizzarelli hasn’t previously recorded,
from timeless well-known ballads (“When I Fall in Love,” “Body and Soul,” “The Very
Thought of You”) to idiosyncratic jazz classics (Bobby Troup’s “I’m Such a Hungry
Man,” “Save the Bones for Henry Jones”). The album also revisits and updates several
numbers that Pizzarelli recorded earlier in his career. “After years of performing
live,” he explains, “the trio has developed and refined these songs and, over time,
figured out what we feel have become the definitive versions. Some arrangements,
like ‘Route 66,’ have gotten much faster. But ‘Straighten Up and Fly Right,’ which
I recorded for my first album way back in 1983, has settled into more of a mellow
tone. After all this time, I can slow down and savor it. These songs never get old.”

In addition to these original takes on recognized Cole standards, this album introduces
two new songs inspired by Cole’s spirit. “Nat King Cool,” written by Pizzarelli,
is a sophisticated homage to the Cole Trio’s famous instrumental tracks. With his
wife, singer Jessica Molaskey, he penned “A Hundred Years from Now,” which craftily
uses oft-cited jazz phrases to express the essence of long-term romance.

 1.  Straighten Up and Fly Right
 2.  A Hundred Years from Now
 3.  The Very Thought of You
 4.  (I Would Do) Anything for You
 5.  I’m Such a Hungry Man
 6.  It’s Only a Paper Moon
 7.  Body and Soul
 8.  Nat King Cool
 9.  When I Fall in Love
 10. Save the Bones for Henry Jones (‘Cause Henry Don’t Eat Meat)
 11. Hit That Jive, Jack!
 12. Could-‘Ja
 13. Red Sails in the Sunset
 14. (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66

 

### _Related_