Bucky Pizzarelli joins his son (and fellow guitarist)
John (whose trio includes brother
Martin Pizzarelli on bass and pianist
Ray Kennedy), plus fellow guitarist
Gene Bertoncini and drummer
Butch Miles for this swinging session that covers many different styles of jazz, though bossa nova is the flavor of the day. In addition to the usual standards from the genre, Latin-flavored arrangements of cool jazz (
Gerry Mulligan's "Line for Lyons"), swing ("I Found a New Baby"), and standards (
George and
Ira Gershwin's "'S Wonderful") work every bit as well. A straight reissue of the earlier Groove Jams CD titled Passion Guitars, the only significant changes are new artwork and the deletion of the ridiculous "Easy Listening, Lite Jazz" from the cover, which probably caused many would-be buyers to think of it as smooth jazz pabulum. ~ Ken Dryden