John Pizzarelli, guitar & vocals – Knowing You

by | May 31, 2005 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews | 0 comments

John Pizzarelli: Knowing You – with Ray Kennedy, Piano; Martin
Pizzarelli, Bass; Harry Allen, Tenor Sax; Bucky Pizzarelli, Guitar;
many others – Telarc SACD-63615 – Multichannel Hybrid SACD, 55 min.
****:

I’ll give John Pizzarelli credit for the many things he does especially
well – his superb guitar playing, his excellent arrangements and song
choices, which frequently includes overlooked and less often played
chestnuts, and the often stellar cast of sidemen he surrounds himself
with at all his recording sessions. Musically, his recordings are
always beyond fault, and are among the best-sounding and most superbly
mixed surround sound recordings available. However, and I realize that
this is mostly just a personal problem – I have a really hard time
getting beyond his vocals. No matter how many times I listen to his
discs – I just find something about the tone of his voice that triggers
a totally negative response on my part. Maybe I’m the only person in
the universe who’s failing to grasp the genius here – and I find this
really troubling, considering how very many things are done especially
right on this disc!

Once again, in terms of sound quality this disc is superb – another of
Telarc’s always excellent, pure-DSD recordings from Avatar Studios, one
of NYC’s very best. Don’t let my personal misgivings dissuade you from
hearing this excellent disc – I probably fall into that one-tenth of a
percent demographic that just doesn’t realize his appeal. I have to
give this disc four stars – it’s really that good – and John
Pizzarelli’s vocals may just be your cup of tea.
 

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