Pianist Emile Pandolfi good for a laugh

"It's like being at home with friends and there's a piano and you tell some stories and play some tunes and it's very relaxed," Emile Pandolfi says of his act, which he honed at a comedy club.

With his classical technique and a flair for arranging Broadway tunes, Emile Pandolfi promises to delight you with his precise and popular piano playing when he comes to the Bartlett Performing Arts and Conference Center on Saturday night.

But he'll also make you laugh.

"It's like being at home with friends and there's a piano and you tell some stories and play some tunes and it's very relaxed," Emile Pandolfi says of his act, which he honed at a comedy club.

"I have a lot of short comedic monologues between the tunes to introduce the next tune," Pandolfi says. "That came from when I worked as the pianist at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles for about six years. I learned a great deal about being a comic."

He has found that his good-natured and family-friendly wit provides a nice balance to his show. "I like to talk to the audience in between," he says. "It's like being at home with friends and there's a piano and you tell some stories and play some tunes and it's very relaxed."

But as always, the center of the show is the music. And he has found such a melodious niche that he has become one of the top-selling artists in the alternative music industry, his work selling well in specialty and book shops nationwide.

"In this show I'm including a little bit of piano roll," he says. "I also love Broadway and the old standards. As long as it's a beautiful melody and I can do some picture painting with it, that's what I look to do."

He is a world traveler, having been the accompanist to the singer Melanie Safka ("Look What They've Done to My Song"), plus having played in English pubs and on cruise ships. He recently returned from Europe where he recorded a CD of songs from musicals such as "Phantom of the Opera" and "Les Miserables" with the City of Prague Philharmonic.

Saturday night, he'll perform more favorites, such as "Unchained Melody," "Send in the Clowns," "I Got Rhythm," and some Mancini tunes like "Charade" and "Days of Wine and Roses."

But whatever the tune, Pandolfi will always have a funny story to tell.

Emile Pandolfi

At 8 p.m. Saturday at the Bartlett Performing Arts and Conference Center, 3663 Appling Road. Tickets: $20. Call 385-6440 or go to bpacc.org. For more information, emilepandolfi.com.

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