Supporters of the arts make their way inside Deal, NJ’s Axelrod Performing Arts Center this Saturday, October 18, 2025 evening for the 2025 New Jersey Arts Gala where, following a tribute concert to Tony Bennett, NJ jazz musician John Pizzarelli will receive the venue’s 2025 New Jersey Arts Icon Award.

Explains Hannah Walker, Axelrod PAC’s Director of Marketing, “Axelrod Performing Arts Center is a non-profit performing arts organization, so to help support performances at Axelrod PAC and Bell Theater in Holmdel — including those of the students of the Axelrod Performing Arts Academy — each year, we fundraise with our annual Gala event.”

Continuing, “Tonight, we will be giving out The New Jersey Arts Icon Award which was initiated in 2024 by Axelrod PAC and Bell Theater and recognizes a New Jersey native whose excellence and outstanding contributions to the arts have made a lasting impact on the state,” Walker notes, “Last year, our inaugural recipient was Dionne Warwick and, this year, the award goes to John Pizzarelli.”

John Pizzarelli was born in Paterson, NJ. As a youngster, he took lessons on banjo but soon switched over to guitar. As the son of jazz guitar great Bucky Pizzarelli, while still a teenager, John had the experience of performing with the likes of Benny Goodman, Clark Terry, and Les Paul. With a trio he founded with his brother, Martin, Pizzarelli spent time in the 1990s as the opening act for Frank Sinatra.

Playing on over 50 albums by such celebrated artists as Rosemary Clooney, The Manhattan Transfer, and Paul McCartney, Pizzarelli won a Grammy for co-producing James Taylor’s 2020 album, American Standard, and he’s also appeared on over two dozen solo recordings including his latest release, 2023’s Stage and Screen.

Inside the Axelrod auditorium, Executive Artistic Director Andrew DePrisco welcomes patrons to tonight’s event. After board member Jimmy Aaron talks with the crowd about support for the arts, Board President Elise Feldman introduces the youngsters of the Axelrod Performing Arts Academy who present selections from The Little Mermaid Jr. including a cast rendition of “Under the Sea” and a solo performance of “Part of Your World” by Zoe Wong as Ariel.

Following some in-house fundraising activities, DePrisco announces, “Please welcome this year’s New Jersey Arts Icon, Mr. John Pizzarelli, and his band!”

Taking the stage with pianist Isaiah J. Thompson and bassist Mike Karn, Pizzarelli launches into an upbeat and jazzy rendition of “Watch What Happens.” After crooning in his warm and appealing tenor, “Let someone start believing in you/Let him hold out his hand/Let him touch you and watch what happens,” Pizzarelli picks out a melodic jazz guitar solo which is followed by a chordal piano solo by Thompson and a fast-fingered bass solo by Karn.

The crowd applauds and Pizzarelli responds by telling them that his dad, Bucky Pizzarelli, worked with Tony Bennett prior to stepping into a soft and swinging rendition of Bennett’s “The Best is Yet to Come,” where he sings with style, “Out of the tree of life I just picked me a plum/You came along and everything started to hum.”

He follows up with a sultry and mellow version of “It Amazes Me” where Thompson tickles the piano’s ivories and Karn concludes the arrangement by bowing his bass on this Bennett ballad.

Audience members cheer and Pizzarelli strums out a version of the upbeat jazz tune, “Firefly,” before segueing into a Latin-influenced interpretation of “The Boulevard of Broken Dreams” where Thompson renders a dissonant and chordal piano solo, Pizzarelli bends his guitar strings as he fast-picks, and Karn holds down the bottom with his rhythmic bass work.

Pizzarelli captivates the audience with his resonant vocal on the soft ballad, “Because of You,” on an arrangement which has Thompson trilling on the piano with his right hand while simultaneously playing a melodic solo with his left. Then, Pizzarelli’s vocal rises and falls as he croons, “I know I’d go from rags to riches/If you would only say you care” on the Tony Bennett classic, “Rags to Riches.”

Pizzarelli reveals that Bennett was close with Duke Ellington before scat-singing while soloing on his guitar on Ellington’s upbeat and jazzy “Love Scene.” Following up with a soft lyrical vocal on Duke’s “In My Solitude,” Pizzarelli rockets into a hot interpretation of “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got that Swing)” where he imitates a drum solo by rhythmically sliding and strumming on his guitar strings before he and Thompson trade riffs on their respective instruments.

Music lovers cheer and Pizzarelli thanks his stagemates before singing, “I wanna be around to pick up the pieces/When somebody breaks your heart,” on “I Wanna Be Around.” Then, after his voice and guitar work are featured on a lovely arrangement of Bill Evans’ “Waltz for Debby,” he offers a simple and compelling solo guitar arrangement on the bluesy “Some Other Time.”

Music lovers enjoy Pizzarelli’s poignant vocal performance on the ballad,“Young and Foolish,” where he’s accompanied solely by Thompson on piano before Karn joins in on bass. The trio then follows up with the upbeat and jazzy “When In Rome (I Do as the Romans Do).”

A highlight of tonight’s show is Pizzarelli’s solo performance of a selection which, as he explains, is “not a Tony Bennett song.” After talking about how his own 1995 recording, “I Like Jersey Best,” came to be, Pizzarelli delights listeners by performing the selection in the style of a variety of artists including Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, The Eagles, The Beach Boys, Billie Holiday, Lou Reed, Lou Rawls, James Taylor, Johnny Cash, The Bee Gees, and Roy Orbison to enthusiastic whistles and cheers.

Pizzarelli and the trio perform a dynamic version of Tony Bennett’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” before Pizzarelli announces, “It’s such a pleasure to be here in the Garden State and to be with Isaiah J. Thompson and Michael Karn. Thank you for your support of the arts!” prior to adding, “In honor of Tony and his love for Duke Ellington, we’d like to finish off with a little swinging Duke Ellington thing for you.” Here, Pizzarelli and Co. present a fast and furious blues jam which has their fingers flying, inspiring an enthusiastic standing ovation.

“Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen!” exclaims Pizzarelli before Andrew DePrisco returns to present Pizzarelli with the 2025 New Jersey Arts Award along with a commendation from the New Jersey Legislature as New Jersey arts supporters enthusiastically stand and cheer.

To learn more about John Pizzarelli, please go to johnpizzarelli.com. For information on upcoming events at Axelrod PAC — including Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella with performances from November 6 to 26 — please click on axelrodartscenter.com. To make a donation to support Axelrod PAC, Bell Theater, and/or the Axelrod Performing Arts Academy, please navigate to axelrodartscenter.com/support.