joe and i used to go hear bird and he came in and out vegas many times. he came in with sam noto , and carl fontana at the silver slipperbut he and sam never got along with carl. he needed a gig and i gave him my baritone sax to use on my band at the flamingo hotel. he was a great musician and i know he liked what i did with harold land , moody, tom scott, richie cole, benny golson, and most recently eric alexander terry richards was in contact with joe and relayed comments from joe about me. he had a amazing influence on some the great musicians from rochester, sal nistico , sam noto , mouse bonati ,gus mancuso etc. we will miss joe romano. jimmy mulidore

I first heard Joe when I was 16 years old when I was a high school student visiting my brother John who was a sophomore at U of R. I couldn't believe what I was hearing coming out of this dude's horn(Joe). I was new to the music -- but this sounded like the authentic stuff from Stitt, Cannonball, Bird...but purely his own.

I have always viewed Joe's solo voice as the 'real deal'...steeped in tradition but originality and inventiveness off the the charts. Having the chance to play with Joe numerous times was truly a gift that I am thankful for. He had no tolerance for anything that didn't further the music. In a candid moment on our way to gig in Buffalo he opened to me and said: "All I ever wanted to do was play this music as well as I possibly could...swing, create, groove...I don't know how many times I am going to come back East (from Portland), but let's have a great time and play great tonight!" We laughed a lot that ride down the Thruway that night, but I never forgot that sincere message.

We'll miss Joe a great deal. He was one of a small handful of legends that created an upstate NY jazz scene that we all are still trying to sustain. Most folks around Rochester, have no idea how respected Joe was all around the world. He never rolled out his resume on the band stand. He always came to play.

Joe was my guest with Diane Armesto on Traffic Jam, the show I hosted from 2001-2004 on Jazz90.1 in Rochester. He was a very gracious guest and told quite a few funny stories. He was also generous in his support of the station, including as a headliner at one of our Meet The Artist concerts. I can't remember the circumstances, but we ended up holding that concert in a school cafeteria. That didn't matter. Joe still burned like he always did, and the capacity crowd loved every second.

When I think of jazz in Rochester, Joe is who I think of first. When I was coming up he was the most powerful cat around, and everytime I saw him he gave off the vibe of someone who was very strong with what he did, and also hard to please and impress. This guy took no prisoners! I didn't get to hang with him nearly as much as I would have liked, but I had some good moments nonetheless. The first time i ever heard him was on an cassette playing with Vinnie Ruggerio, in a quintet that had Pat Labarbera, Barry Kiner and Alan Murphy Jr. Man they sounded great! The first time i got to play with Joe was not long after i started studying with Joe Lovano. Romano knew i was studying with Joe, and wanted to hear what was going on with my playing. I got to play the last two sets with him, and it was great, really great. He said I sounded good, and that i should stick close to Lovano, he wouldn't steer me wrong (i did, and he didn't). But of all the times I saw, heard and hung with him, the best was after running into him one night at the movies while i was home visiting my mom after a seven month Ray Charles tour. We were both headed towards the bathroom from our respective pictures, and after asking what i was doing back in Rochester, said "hey man, my movies sucks, let's go to my house and have a few drinks and listen to some music". We sat there for hours and got slowly but completely ripped while we listened to Rollins, Bird, Stitt, Griff, Hank and Trane, i just let him talk, about those guys and also about Vinnie and Sal Nistico and Sam Noto and Roy McCurdy and all the upstate cats. It was unbelievably great, and when the night was over I was so lit he let me sleep on his couch, but not until I called my mother to tell her where I was! The only positive thing about a great musician like Joe moving on is that we all get a good look at his legacy, and he left a great one. Of course all the beautiful music, but more importantly, all the musicians he helped to train and bring out. Guys like Joe Locke, Mike Melito, Danny Vitale, Bob Sneider and everybody else who knew and worked with Joe, they're his musical children, and every time they get up on a bandstand and hit hard like Joe did, you're hearing a little piece of him. He was a beautiful guy and a great musician, and he will be sorely missed - R.I.P.

I used to work the cruise ship gigs with Joe, quite a bit.

Joe always told me that my playing was like a watered down version of Teodross Avery, and this inspired me to really drink less and shed more so I could get it together.

I never took care of business, though and still have an issue with the drink, but I never forgot Joe's advice. I simply lacked the intestinal fortitude that it takes and
as a result I'm just another guy with a Link and a Selmer Mark 6 posing as a jazzman with relevant to say.

Joe Romano was a class act and as old-school real as they come.

Greg,
Sorry I wasn't able to get back to you right away about Joe Romano. Mike Stern once told me it took him two years to start talking about Jaco in the 'Past tense" instead of the "Present tense" and that's the way it's been for me about Joe Romano. Joe and I went out side the music boundaries and became very close friends, brothers almost Karmic in a sense; it was Karmic!!. I'm still not completely in tuned with the fact that he's gone. I stare at the headlines just looking at his name and reading in disbelief as it all went so fast.I thought that at least we'd be able to play one more time together. I use to think Joe was invincible with his "cutting character", mannerisms and cynical humor that made us all crack a smile.

I first met Joe when I was 20 at the Top Of The Plaza with Buddy Rich's Band in the 60's.There was literally a line to get in the elevator out on Broad St. I went with a sax player named Cappy Sanderson and a young pianist named Biff Hannon. The three of us were working steady at the Leroy CC in Leroy, NY. Joe knew Cappy very well as Cappy played very much like Stan the Man one of Joe's favorites. Joe looked at Cappy and said " Hey Cappy good to see ya, look at me man I'm getting older and the rest of the sax section is getting younger" then he smiled at me and Biff. I knew that someday I'd play with Buddy's Band and also with Joe and my intuition was right. Joe later told me how he was responsible for booking Buddy's band there that night cause Buddy didn't have a gig. Richie Cole, Pat LaBarbera and Joe Calo were in the sax section. Art pepper had just got off cause he was so sick. Joe use to room with Art and is talked about in Art's book 'Straight Life'.

I went to Berklee in Boston a few years later in 1970 after a recommendation from Pat LaBarbera that night at the Top of The Plaza. Then after a 10 year stay in Boston I came back to Rochester the same time Joe did in 1980. Our first gig together was with a big band gig at the Xerox Auditorium. I was carrying my bass and it was a snowy freezing night. Joe and I literally walked up to the entrance together and his first words were "What a night this is huh, this shit is out, hey don't I know you from some place"? After the gig Joe came up to me and said "man you play real nice I'll be calling you for some gigs". Sure enough Joe called and wanted to start a small group together. Our first gig was at the Casablanca with Bobby Blandino and Mark Manetta. We played 'Oleo' right up there. Bobby looked at Joe, smiled and during the break we all laughed and it was a beginning of a musical union. We worked a lot together at Lloyd's on Alexander St. in the 80's using various drummers, pianists and guitarists. We played at a place on State St. named the Gallery with Andy Calabrese and Steve Curry. Joe was taking a great solo on 'Lover Man' one night and this guy in front of Joe was putting his head down and really getting into the music. Joe kept looking at him and I thought 'oh no'. Finally Joe stopped playing and said right in front of the packed club "Hey man don't let me interrupt your nap or anything" the whole place fell on the floor.

We played a place called Mulberry's on Hudson Ave. Great Italian food although Joe never ate before he played but I certainly took advantage of it. We had various cats playing with us there and sitting in also. Andy Calabrese and Bobby Blandino (who is on that DVD going around that they shot at the club a real nice live look of Joe playing his buns off ) along with Richie Vitale, Mike DiMartino, Mike Melito and Biff Hannon. One night Chuck Mangione came down and so did Don Menza. One night when the pianist went to the bar during a break and he knew we'd be up there a good hour so the pianist ordered a bunch of drinks. We were all waiting for him to come up to the bandstand and he had an arm full of drinks. Joe looked at pianist and then looked at me and said "What the 'frig' is this"? He turned to the pianist and said "you know I don't mind you drinking man but I don't like anybody who drinks more than me". The whole place went into hysterics.

Joe and I collaborated in a few concerts together also. We did one at Red Creek with Sammy Noto, remember that one? It was sold out. We also did Richmond's Bar with a big band and I promoted it as The Joe Romano Big Band. The Mangiones were there along with Steve Gadd. Danny D'Imperio played drums and Biff Hannon on piano. We even had Jeff Tyzik in the trumpet section. I had a tape of that band along with Joe's Jokes but it got lost some how.We also played that club on the corner of Main and Scio. What was the name of that club? It's up for sale now. We also did a Mother's Day Special at Susan Plunkett's place called Jazzberry's (use to be Tommy's). We featured Sheila Jordan on vocals and sold both shows out. That was an interesting night with Danny D ordering drinks from the stage while Sheila was singing. She didn't put up with that for long LOL.

Then there was Sammy's club in Buffalo The Renaissance with Sal Nestico and Sammy Noto and Joe. They all blew 35 choruses a piece on Rhythm Changes at MM 200 and that was a half note. We went 45 minutes on one tune once and an hour and a half sets with six people in the joint but those animals didn't care. The rhythm section players were holding up but Sammy kept thinking we were in the wrong place but it was him LOL. Maybe cause the drinks were free. Did I miss anything? Oh what about the night at the Rochester Jazz Festival when Steve Gadd and Gap played. Joe was looking around and saying hello to everyone when we were on stage in between tunes. Joe called a tune "Old Folks" and I was getting a volume setting on my amp. Joe said "hey and how about a hand for an old friend sitting in front of me. I was in the army with this guy imagine that, imagine that"? Well the guy was really short and Joe said "hey stand up and take a bow " and the guy was waiting to sit down at his table and Joe said "Oops his is standing".

We also had a very successful Benefit Concert at the Little Theater with Steve Gadd and Harold Danko put together by Diane Armesto to recondition the piano at the Little Cafe. Joe had just returned from Vegas and he called a tune that's one of my favorites 'For Heaven's Sake' only we did it as a Samba which had a great feel to it. A little contrary to the way it's usually played as a very slow Bill Evans-ish ballad. Joe and I use to ride all over listening to Bird, Trane, Getz and he even was interested in the younger cats like Brecker, Berg, Mintzer and Bergonzi. We'd go over to his mother Rose's for dinner then afterwards go to the OTB. Once his mother was trying to give him a few bucks on a horse and her and Joe were looking at the program and Joe said "Ma don't bet on that horse it's a looser" then they'd squabble over the odds it was a real riot. I miss the jams and hangs over at Jack and Del Stevens. Jack always had great wine and great cashews. It's one of those periods that holds a special place in my heart. I knew how Joe played and I used to drive the time right up Joe's spine and Joe would cut through with his alto with some of the best Be-Bop lines I ever heard.

Me and Blandino years ago would create a groove Joe would say "you could grow watermelons in it". One night Joe was playing especially well and we had Joe Gallante on piano and Barry Kiner sat in. We were playing "Blackbird" and Joe felt the groove and said "Man I'm gonna take this group on the rode, just don't get hit by a truck, LOL". If the groove was especially hard and the scotch was good Joe would let out a yell "Yeah your right!"

One special night we were playing to a very enthusiastic audience and we tried to walk off the stage but the audience kept bringing us back so I said "Joe what are we gonna play?", as we played the whole book of favorites we had. He said "Follow me man you can't lose when you play the blues, ya dig". I'm gonna miss Joe beyond belief kind-a like a badly needed breath of fresh cool air in a bar room filled with smoke. But most of all I'm gonna miss his passion for music, his sound, his edge and his autonomous dexterity in which he played but most of all I'm gonna miss Joe 'cause he was like a brother and 'one of a kind'; because he was the one and only Ladies and Gentlemen 'Give it up for Joe Romano'. Everywhere we went there was always someone that Joe knew. I use to say "Joe man you ought to run for President" he'd laugh at that one. Joe was also a very good painter. I got a chance to see some of his works while visiting him a few times in his last days. So Greg if there's a Be-Bop Heaven then there's got to be one hell of a Be-Bop Band.
I Love and Miss you Joe ....Peace!!!!!!!!!!

Sincerely,
Fred J. Stone, Jr.

I had so many great nights listing to Joe. The late night hangs were memorable too!

One night in particular stays in my mind. It was a cold, very snowy weekday night at The Glass Onion. Maybe ten people in the place because of the weather. The band has Barry Kiener, Steve Davis and Danny D'Impierio in it.

They reached a unbelievable and intense peak, and at one point, one song flowed into another. No breaks between songs, and they ended with a fierce "Mr. PC".

That band LIFTED THE BANDSTAND that night!

Peace and Love to you Joe,

Tom Marcello

Great to hear about that playing together of Joe and Freddie in Las Vegas back in 1981. Thank you, Diane. Do you have any other memories of Joe Julian and his Las Vegas night club - especially of Julian's wife, Helga Julian Marandola, who was a great bar pianist and night club singer? Klaus from Germany.

ALTHOUGH i AM NOT A JAZZ MUSICIAN BUT ONLY AN OLD JAZZ FAN I WANT TO ADD A PIECE OF INFORMATION TO HIS BIOGRAPHY: I NEVER SEE A MENTION OF JOE ROMANO PLAYING WITH LIONEL HAMPTON, HOWEVER THAT IS HOW I DISCOVERED HIM MYSELF IN A RECORDING OF 1974 IN A PIECE CALLED FUM (BEING A FOREIGNER I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THE TITLE MEANS).