Meeting Tony Bennett was great and he really is as nice as everyone says he is.

But my real story is meeting Peter Nero in the early 70's when I was in my early 20's. I was attending Florida State University in Tallahassee and playing 6 nights a week at the rooftop lounge of the round Holiday Inn. This was one of the nicest clubs in town. Peter was in town to play a concert. My wife went, but I had to work so I didn't go. It so happened that he was staying in the hotel, and he and his trio walked into the lounge at around 11:00 PM. He nodded to me as I was playing. During the break I went over and introduced myself to him and said something like, it's nice to finally meet you Mr. Nero. To which he replied, please call me Pete. He stayed the whole rest of the night and he the bartender and me were there until 4 in the morning. It's an evening I've never forgotten.

Well, about 5 years ago he was in town, (Baltimore), conducting the Baltimore Symphony and I went backstage to see him. I told him the story and he was a gracious as he could possibly be. He said, how have you been? Now I know he couldn't have possibly remembered that evening so long ago, but he played right along. He's an incredible pianist, conductor and all around good guy. These days he conducts the Philly Pops. You guys in Philly are really lucky.

Ciao,

Joe

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Songman55
Joe Ayala