Better Days Ahead (4/17/21) John Pizzarelli’s new album “Better Days Ahead (Solo Guitar Takes on Pat Metheny)” was just released, on April 16. On it, he decontructs the arrangements of songs by the Pat Metheny Group and adpts them to his solo, seven-string guitar. This week John & Jessica talk about the album and play two previously unheard tracks, including the title song “Better Days Ahead,” which leads to talk of the better days that they are anticipating after the pandemic. Jessica hopes the days ahead include a return to Paris, thoughts of which affect some of her song choices this week.
John Pizzarelli - Better Days Ahead (Better Days Ahead) Fred Astaire - (I've Got) Beginner's Luck (The Early Years at RKO) Helen Merrill - He Was Too Good for Me (Dream of You) John Pizzarelli - Say Hey Kid (Our Love Is Here to Stay) Catherine Russell - When Lights Are Low (Harlem on My Mind) Billie Holiday - All of Me (Lady Day: The Complete Billy Holiday on Columbia (1933-1944)) Maria Muldaur - Cooking Breakfast for the Ones I Love (On the Sunny Side) Dick Haymes - The More I See You (Rain or Shine) Sarah Vaughan/Clifford Brown - April in Paris (Sarah Vaughan) Ray Brown Trio/WDR Big Band - Squatty Roo () John Pizzarelli - Let 'Em In (Midnight McCartney) The John Bunch Trio - Isn't This a Lovely Day (Plays the Music of Irving Berlin)
Oscar Petersonl, Stephane Grappelli - Them There Eyes (The Peterson- Grappelli Quartet Vol. 1) Blossom Dearie - Comment Allez-Vous (Blossom Dearie) Ella Fitzgerald/Ellis Larkins - I've Got a Crush on You (Ella Sings Gershwin) Karrin Allyson - O Pato (From Paris to Rio) LaBelle & Laura Nyro - I Met Him on a Sunday (Gonna Take a Miracle) Meloy Gardot - C'est Magnifique (Sunset in the Blue) Maria Friedman - I Happen to Like New York (Diamond Master Series - Maria Friedman) James Taylor - You've Got to Be Carefully Taught (American Standard) Veronica Swift - Everybody Has the Right to Be Wrong (This Bitter Earth) Jimmy Rowles - Sunday, Monday or Always () Rickie Lee Jones - Something Cool (Girl at Her Volcano) John Pizzarelli - Letter from Home (Better Days Ahead) Bill Holman - You and I (Essential Jazz Masters)