John Pizzarelli lays it all out in the title of his 2015 album: this tribute to
Paul McCartney is designed for play in the smoky late-night hours, when everything turns sweet and mellow. Furthermore, this is a tribute to
McCartney, not
the Beatles. There isn't a Fab song to be found here, as
Pizzarelli focuses entirely on
Paul's solo work (for these intents and purposes, this includes
Wings records), concentrating on the '70s but also sliding
McCartney's Great American Songbook wannabe "My Valentine" into the mix.
Pizzarelli digs up a few other obscurities -- the early
Wings song "Some People Never Know," the Speed of Sound deep cut "Warm and Beautiful" -- and he also plays around with expectations, making "Let 'Em In" swing like mad and relaxing "Hi Hi Hi" so it doesn't rock, it grooves. He also invites
Michael McDonald to sing on "Coming Up," which swaggers like
Sinatra in Vegas, but for as delightful as that is, the key to the record's success is
Pizzarelli himself, who delivers upon the laid-back promise of the title but is savvier than he needed to be, which is why
Midnight McCartney satisfies. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine