Date:
Monday, September 14
Time:
7:00 PM
Advance Ticket:
$58.28
Advance Member Ticket:
$52.50
Door Ticket:
$63.00
Student Ticket:
$31.50
All-in Pricing
Kuumbwa Jazz Presents

John Pizzarelli

Buy Tickets
6:00 PM
All Ages
Café Kuumbwa
Dinner Specials can be purchased in advance or at the counter (subject to availability). To guarantee the purchase of the Dinner Special, please order in advance. The menu will be posted to this event page as soon as it is selected by our chef. If you are purchasing a dinner before the menu is announced, you will receive the menu via email within a week of the concert date. Please click the ‘Café Kuumbwa' button above for more information. Thank you!

Guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli has been hailed by the Boston Globe for “reinvigorating the Great American Songbook and re-popularizing jazz.” Established as one of the prime contemporary interpreters of the Great American Songbook, Pizzarelli has expanded that repertoire by including the music of Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Tom Waits, Antônio Carlos Jobim, and The Beatles. In addition to being a bandleader and solo performer, Pizzarelli has been a special guest on recordings for major pop names such as Natalie Cole, Kristin Chenoweth, Tom Wopat, Rickie Lee Jones, and Dave Van Ronk, as well as leading jazz artists such as Rosemary Clooney, Ruby Braff, Johnny Frigo, Buddy DeFranco, Harry Allen, and, of course, his father Bucky Pizzarelli.

For Pizzarelli, Tony Bennett was more than simply an influence. The admiration was mutual – Bennett could be found in the audience for a number of Pizzarelli’s performances, and sketched his likeness on two occasions. The charming artwork that graces the cover of Pizzarelli’s heartfelt new tribute album, Dear Mr. Bennett, was rendered during an engagement at Feinstein’s nightclub at New York’s Loews Regency hotel. Dear Mr. Bennett, released in March 2026, is on the one hand a loving farewell to a profoundly influential musician who meant so much to so many. At the same time, it’s a spirited celebration, arriving just in time for Bennett’s landmark August 3rd centennial. A five-song EP will follow on August 7th to coincide with the occasion. Both releases feature songs made famous by Bennett over the course of his remarkable seven-decade career, rendered with lively warmth, soulful balladry, and embracing swing.

John Pizzarelli Website
Sponsored by West Coast Community Bank
(Ticket Includes 5% City of Santa Cruz Admission Tax)

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