Roni Kole Trio will perform for the Concert Association

By Shari Kaplan

For the second concert of its 1999-2000 performance season and the first opportunity to prove it is Y2K-compliant, the Los Gatos- Saratoga Community Concert Association presents the Ronnie Kole Trio on Jan. 16 at 2:30 p.m. at Los Gatos High School.

Eclectic pianist Ronnie Kole (also known as the "man with a thousand fingers") and his trio choose songs from their large repertoire to tailor each performance to their audience at hand. Although best known for their jazz numbers, the group--which includes a percussionist and bass player--also performs big band tunes, contemporary songs and light classics.

Faced with physical disabilities as a boy, Kole discovered piano as an emotional and creative outlet. As a teenager in the 1950s, he settled in New Orleans and began playing in French Quarter nightspots. While there, he met jazz great Al Hirt, who encouraged Kole's musical career.

Over the years, the Ronnie Kole Trio has come to be known as one of New Orleans's "Big Three" acts, along with Al Hirt and Pete Fountain. Kole and his trio have traveled to 600 cities throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe and Asia. His audiences have included five U.S. presidents and Pope John Paul II.

When not on tour, Kole has found time to record 24 albums, compose his own songs, host or co-host nine Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethons and 10 Easter Seals Telethons, and donate time or money to various charities and community-service projects.

After Kole's Jan. 16 performance, the remaining two LGSCCA concerts are a Civil War program by Robert Trentham on Feb. 20, which will feature singing, speaking and costumery; and a show by coloratura soprano Erie Mills on May 7.

Like the Ronnie Kole Trio, the Mills program will take place at LGHS's Prentiss Brown Auditorium, 20 High School Court. Trentham's performance will be held at the First United Methodist Church of Los Gatos, 19 High School Court. Tickets for the nonprofit LGSCCA's concert season are $40 for adults, $35 for senior citizens, $10 for students and $85 for the family plan, which admits two adults and any number of children and students under 18. Individual concert tickets are also sold at the door.

For more information, call Ray Strong at 408.377.1106 or Ruth Capps at 408.356.7014.

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