The music played by guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli comes from some place deep in the bone. Born in a New Jersey home that valued music, it was considered part of a weekly Sunday ritual, one in which a 9-year-old boy received his first guitar lessons from uncles, who were known for their skill on the instrument. It was the age of Swing, and young Bucky learned quickly to "pump rhythm," four to the bar.

Pizzarelli, 84 on January 9, will bring "the beat" when he arrives in Wilmington with his distinctive, solid sound, to collaborate with about a dozen musicians, including trumpeter Duke Heitger and vocalist Stephanie Nakasian, for the 30th Annual North Carolina Jazz Festival, February 4-6 at the Hilton Hotel.

The festival draws musicians and fans from across the United States and Canada, and is devoted to traditional jazz, though the festival’s organizers are acutely aware of the need to attract bigger audiences. Translation: younger audiences. Jazz, like classical music, has seen its followers turn gray, as younger listeners turn away. The reasons cited are common to many arts organizations, most notably the splintering of our attention spans by a culture more and more steeped in technology.

"Younger listeners have never heard this kind of music," Pizzarelli said in a phone conversation from New Jersey, where he lives with his wife Ruth. "They’ve never heard The Modernaires (famed for its tight four & five-part vocal harmonies for such as Glenn Miller’s band) or the big guitars (a long list of greats, including Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt)." But Pizzarelli said that he does see younger people coming to concerts and enjoying acoustic jazz. "They just need a chance to hear it."

The subject of music education didn’t come up directly, yet it is remarkable the degree to which Pizzarelli is willing to share his knowledge and wisdom, gained from years playing with some of the greatest names in American music, from clarinetist Benny Goodman to vocalist Frank Sinatra. And like today’s aspiring artists, Pizzarelli found the technology of his youth a gateway to discovery and inspiration.

"We would go down to the Paramount Theater. They had an orchestra that would play between pictures. People would pack a lunch and make a day of it." Pizzarelli said that the music bug bit during those movie house days, at about the age of four. And he learned by listening, too. "We had a Victrola that we listened to in those days," Pizzarelli said, recalling the brittle 78 rpm discs of recordings by Benny Goodman when Charlie Christian played in his quintet, little knowing that he would one day take Christian’s role in that ensemble.

And those Sunday afternoons at home, tutored by uncles Peter and Bobby Dominick, both highly regarded musicians, encouraged Pizzarelli to make music the center of his life. "I went on the road with Vaughan Monroe when I was 17," he said. Monroe was one of the most versatile of the big band leaders of the 1940s and ‘50s, fronting as trumpet and trombone soloist, and especially renowned as a singer.

Pizzarelli’s career went on hold while he served as an infantryman in World War II, but resumed with Monroe’s dance band almost immediately in 1946. He was eventually hired by NBC as a staff musician, working with Skitch Henderson in 1952, and about 12 years later, was tapped to play with Doc Severinsen and the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show.

Surprising for some, perhaps, the musicians who show up for the N.C. Jazz Festival almost all know each other. "I’ve played with all of them at one time or another at other festivals," Pizzarelli said. And that’s a good thing because there is no rehearsal for the traditional jazz parties that comprise the second and third nights of the festival in Wilmington. "We talk it out. What song? What key? Then take off."

Pizzarelli said what he enjoys most about the N.C. Festival are the two nights devoted to those jazz parties, each comprised of seven sets that start in the evening and include all of the instrumentalists and at least one vocalist. Everyone is featured, mixing up various combos throughout the night: very "small d" democratic.

One gets the feeling that Pizzarelli has been part of an endless song set even at home. He and his wife have raised three musicians, after all. John, Jr. (jazz guitarist, vocalist and band leader), Martin (bassist) and Mary (classical guitar) have all recorded and played publically with their father.

Pizzarelli has students who come to his house to learn the art of accompanying soloists, how to "pump rhythm," keeping that steady four-beat pulse going. "A lot of conservatory kids come out and just want to play fast. They don’t know how to accompany. They gotta sit on the couch and figure that out." And as Pizzarelli’s career proves, a good rhythm player is always in demand.

The conversation eventually circles back to advice for the uninitiated of any age who may want to know more about the music at the heart of the festival and, dear to Pizzarelli, the recommendations he makes to young musicians looking for a way to make the music their life. "Listen to Art Tatum. Listen to Benny Goodman, and the Duke Ellington and Count Basie orchestras. Listen to Bunny Berigan’s ‘I Can’t Get Started with You,’ and Coleman Hawkins’ version of ‘Body and Soul.’ Study it. Look back and listen to it."

See Bucky at the N.C. Jazz Festival in Wilmington, February 4-6. 

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