I saw Joe Venuti & Bucky Pizzarelli at Caffe Lena's in Saratoga Springs, NY, in 1975 or thereabouts. It was so cool! It's great to see that Bucky is still playing out, sometimes with his kid.
Jersey Guitar Mafia Alert!
The only born, lived and died in New Jersey veteran guitar great missing here is the late Tony Mottola, whose Command label guitar records will be familiar to older audio geeks. He passed away in 2004.
But look who is here: starting with the great Bucky Pizzarelli, native of Paterson, NJ and now 87 and still regularly gigging. Also, Les Paul's friend and trio member Lou Pallo, Frank Vignola, who is both too young for this and actually lives in New York State, but he is Italian, and Al Caiola who will be 93 a few days after the gig. Gary M. will not be there.
Yes they will be playing an evening of Italian favorites, not jazz, but the venue is an Italian restaurant owned by the bread making Calandra family, so it's Italian music played by Italians in a Joisey Italian restaurant. So it could turn into a sing along and it's unclear which will be more entertaining: the stage act or the audience!
The date is Thursday, Sept. 5th. The time is 7;30-9:15PM. The cost is $20 per person for the entertainment plus whatever you want to eat. For reservations and info call (973) 575-6500.
Am I going? Fugetaboutit! Of course! And I'm not even Italian (but I secretly always wanted to be). So maybe I'll see you there.
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Al Caiola put out some nice solo records too... a popular studio player, probably on a thousand records. For a nice record with Caiola and Tony Mattola, check out "Open Fire, Two Guitars" by Johnny Mathis. Original 6-eye stereo, preferably. Audiophilia, and awesome vocal performance.