Customer Reviews

Classic Connections

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Peter Nero studied classical music and was blown away at age 19 by the fast piano style of Art Tatum. Nero played clubs in New York City after graduating and this led to him winning a new pianist competition by RCA. The result of that was the album "New Piano in Town" which got Nero a best new artist Grammy in 1961.

"New Piano in Town" was the album that made Nero's reputation. His incredibly fast, perfect rendition of Richard Rodger's 1926 song, "Mountain Greenery" got a lot of airplay in the 1960s, and it was this cut, deservedly, that made Nero's reputation. It was followed by "Hail the Conquering Nero," his all time best selling album. Both of these are available on a single CD and show us the brilliant young pianist at his playful best, playing fast like Tatum but with classical precision and a prankster's affinity for bringing in stray melodies for the audience to identify and chuckle at.

In dozens of albums since, you can hear Nero competently giving the audience what it wants - easy listening and very soft jazz.

In 1979, the Philly Pops was created and Peter Nero was given the baton. He has continued to conduct and perform live since. He's also recorded with the Philly Pops and other pop orchestras over the years. A breakthrough of sorts occurred in 1990 when Nero recorded his "Anything but Lonely" album with the Columbus Symphony. This album was a rather formal, semi-jazzy compilation of show tunes, including a second recording of "Mountain Greenery" and a very clever, rather long pastiche called "The Richard Rodgers Songbook." The Songbook was very good, especially the last third of this nearly 18-minute compilation.

It was also, clearly, the inspiration for Classic Connections in 1991. In Connections, Nero does another collection, his "West Side Story Suite" of 21 and one-half minutes. This Bernstein tribute, alone on the album, has no sly inclusion of classic melodies. Nero includes a piece he has written, Scratch my Bach, which has melody from J.S. Bach, Georges Bizet, and George Gershwin included. Also included is a humorous and very competent orchestral rendition of "The Yellow Rose of Texas" with a little Mozart thrown in. The rest of the album, somewhat like "Anything but Lonely," consists of show tunes. All of these show tunes have melodic elements from the classics included.

The result is something astonishing - Classic Connections represents a whirlwind modernized update of the fusion jazz of the 1940's. It's classic themes, mostly from the Romantic period, mixed with jazz versions of familiar tunes. And it works. If you've ever heard Jack Fina's recording of Bumble Boogie recording with the Freddie Martin orchestra, this album is the next generation of that sound. Or if you've heard Carmen Cavallaro's brilliant, amazingly fast boogie woogie version of Edvard Grieg's "Anitra's Dance" (which Cavallaro called "Anita's Boogie"), then Nero's Classic Connections updates and modernizes this kind of fusion music.

There isn't a boring cut on the entire Classic Connections album, because it is never either predictable or leisurely. "Take the A Train," the Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn jazz masterpiece, actually is helped by Nero's inclusion of Chopin. It's infectious and hypnotic. Stripping out the lyrics from Lionel Bart's "As Long as He Needs Me," and including some of the Paganini variations of Rachmaninoff, changes this theme from the musical Oliver from a co-dependency pathos to a jazzy, sober tribute to human dignity. In doing so, Nero finishes the journey he began in night clubs polishing the message he sent out with "New Piano in Town" at the start of his career.

If you like both melodic jazz and classical music from the Romantic period, you must treat yourself to Nero's Classic Connections CD. Add the "New Piano in Town/Hail the Conquering Nero" CD, and you've got Nero's genius neatly summarized.

The talent of Peter Nero is showcased in all it's glory on this album. His command of the instrument; his creative genius in composition and arranging would make any orchestra sound good.

It was truly enjoyable to revisit the quick artistry of Nero. His music showed a fine blend of wit and wisdom. It was fresh yet reminded of artistry done well years ago.