Peter Friedman

While living in Joe Romano's home town of Rochester, New York, I had an opportunity to hear him live many many times. Heard him play alto with a local big band about 3 or 4 times, and tenor in a quartet he headed numerous times. I preferred him on tenor, though he was best known for playing alto in a number of name bands. Joe was a fabulous musician,with a great deal of passion in his playing. Unfortunately he only made one small group recording as leader, but it's a fine one.

Haydn - Op.54/2 Schubert - D.784

Mozart - Violin Concerto No.7, K.268 Brahms - Cello Sonata No.2, Op.99

Symphony No.2

Beethoven - String Trio Op.9/3 Spohr - Double String Quartet Op.65

Mozart - Piano Concerto No.5, K;175 - Derek Han / Philharmonia Orch. Castillon - Piano Quartet Op.7 - Quatuor Elyseen

Piano Concerto No.1

Mozart - Violin Sonatas K.305 & K.376 - Ferras / Barbizet Mozart - String Quintet K.516 - Heifetz/Baker/Primrose/Majewski/Piatigorsky

Piano Sonata D.894 - A wonderful performance!

I have known Mike for many years dating back to when I lived in his hometown Rochester New York. All of Mike's CDs are in my collection, and they are all very very good. Will be ordering this new one right away.

Parry - Piano Quartet Mozart - Piano Concerto No.8, K.246

Brahms - Cello Sonata No.1, Op.38 - Rubinstein / Piatigorsky Rimsky-Korsakov - Symphony No.1, Op.1

Haydn - String Quartet Op.54/1 Tchaikovsky - String Sextet Op.70 "Souvenier de Florence"

Ok, after all this discussion I pulled my copy of "Am I Blue" off the shelf. Haven't listened to it in quite some time. After listening to it I know why. In my view it is not a strong musical outing by these fine musicians. The first tune, the title piece, was ok, but the next one "Take These Chains From My Heart" was downright poor, if not worse than that. The tune itself is trite and boring, and the playing dull. The repetitive backbeat by Ben Dixon quickly became deadly. The next 2 tunes were also just passable - ok. The final track, "For All We Know" is a tune that ranks among my favorites, but not the version performed here. I have heard numerous performances of this tune that were miles and miles ahead of this mediocre 14 minute performance. Mellow playing of ballads and medium tempo pieces can be wonderful. That just did not happen at this session. The rich harmonies and creative interesting playing that can make tunes such as these (excepting "Take These Chains...) worthwhile listening experiences unfortunately are missing.

Mozart - Violin Sonatas K.296 & K.304 - Milstein / Pommers Beethoven - Piano Trio Op.1, No.1 - Heifetz / Piatigorsky / Lateiner

Chopin - The 4 Ballades Brahms - Violin Sonata No.1, Op.78

Dvorak - Symphony No.7

Mozart - String Quintet K.515 Beethoven - Violin Sonata Op.47 "Kreutzer"

Haydn - String Quartet Op.33/6 Mozart - Piano Concerto No.16

Pi