Manhattan Swing

Jay Leonhart, John Bunch, and Bucky Pizzarelli have been performing and recording as a trio for ten years. This is their 7th CD. The others will soon be listed on CDBaby. John Bunch has had a long and distinguished career even if his abilities as an accompanist and supportive player have long led to him often being taken for granted. He started on piano when he was 11 and within a year was playing in local clubs. Bunch, a flexible pianist who was most inspired by Teddy Wilson, generally played locally until working with the big bands of Woody Herman (1956-1957), Benny Goodman, and Maynard Ferguson (1958) when he was already in his mid-thirties. Bunch worked in the small groups of Buddy Rich, Al Cohn/Zoot Sims, and Gene Krupa (1961-1964), was a member of Rich's 1966 big band and accompanied Tony Bennett during 1966-1972. Off and on with Goodman during the '60s and '70s, Bunch also recorded five albums as a leader during 1975-1977 for Famous Door, Chiaroscuro (an exquisite solo piano set of Kurt Weill compositions later reissued on CD), and Progressive. In the 1980s and '90s, John Bunch has often been employed by young mainstream stars such as Scott Hamilton and Warren Vache and has recorded for Concord, Chiaroscuro, and Arbors. With Bucky Pizzarelli and Jay Leonhart, Bunch currently co-leads New York Swing. Bunch has appeared in many solo concerts, including Carnegie Hall and most of the world's capitals, and made many television appearances here and abroad. He's conducted the bands of Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Count Basie, and Buddy Rich, along with the London Philharmonic, the L.A. Philharmonic, and the Cleveland Orchestra. His original compositions have been recorded by Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Joe Morello, and Warren Vache Jr. - For more than half a century, John 'Bucky' Pizzarelli has been a part of the fraternity of musicians who have kept mainstream and traditional jazz alive. The list of big bands and vocalists with whom Bucky has performed and recorded reads like a veritable Who's Who of Jazz. Bucky Pizzarelli is a superior guitarist who swing musicians in particular appreciate. Bucky Pizzarelli, father of John Pizzarelli, Jr., has been a fixture in jazz and the studios since the early '50s. He learned to play banjo and guitar when he was young. At the age of 17 he toured with Vaughan Monroe's dance band, which he re-joined (after military service) in 1946; he made recordings with the band for RCA and also played on the radio. In 1952 he joined the staff of NBC. For many years, at NBC, he played in the Doc Severinson Band on the Tonight Show. After touring for two years with the Three Suns trio, he returned to New York to work in the recording studios and as a freelance. He appears on many recordings as part of the rhythm section. One of the era's most solid rhythm players, Pizzarelli was in high demand to provide propulsion and background for other musicians. He played and toured with Benny Goodman, forming a close association with him that lasted until Goodman's death; he also led his own trio and recorded duos with Zoot Sims (1976), Bud Freeman (1975), Stephane Grappelli (1979) and his son John (from around 1981). Pizzarelli plays a seven-string electric guitar; the extra string (tuned to A) allows him to play a bass line to his own solos. He is known not only for his exceptional solo performances on the electric instrument, but also for his proficiency as a classical guitarist. He is also a Faculty Member Emeritus of William Paterson College in Wayne, NJ. His recordings as leader began to appear in the 1970's with recordings like Green Guitar Blues. On this recording Pizzarelli established a pattern he repeated throughout his career, that is, playing and recording some of the great historic guitar compositions from the 1930s. On this recording he pays homage to Carl Kress and Dick McDonough by including Chicken A La Swing. A few years later he paid tribute to these two guitarists again on his Guitar Quintet LP. On April Kisses (1999), he includes original music by Carl Kress, George Van Eps and George