John Pizzarelli shows NJ pride ahead of NJSO holiday concerts

Grammy-nominated singer and guitarist John Pizzarelli shows his New Jersey roots in an interview with The Star-Ledger ahead of his NJSO POPS holiday concerts this weekend.

[Star-Ledger] You live in New York now, but I assume New Jersey is still frequently on your mind.

[Pizzarelli] I was upstate the other day playing tennis with my wife. Someone was barbecuing and immediately I thought about how it smelled like my grandfather’s backyard in Waldwick on a summer evening. In the city there are some really good apartments with fireplaces. When you walk home on winter or fall nights and smell those fires, it reminds me of the fall nights I would shoot hoops with my brother. And then, of course, there is what I call “The Glories of Taylor Ham.” There’s nothing like having a Taylor ham and egg sandwich. You can’t get it anywhere else in the world. I did a concert at the Surflight Theatre on Long Beach Island and remember telling the kid in front of me, “Someday you’re going to be in San Francisco with the girl you wanna marry. She’s gonna tell you how great San Francisco is and you’ll say, “When you get a chance someday, you’re gonna meet me in New Jersey and I’m gonna take you to a diner to have a Taylor ham and egg sandwich. And that’s going to change the whole ballgame.”

Read the full Q&A at nj.com.