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By James French, Freeport, IL, September 2001

 Thursday night a beautifully charming couple, Ronald Romm, trumpet player, and his pianist accompanist, Avis Fedge Romm, enthralled an enthusiastic audience in the second concert of this yearâs community concert series.  Playing songs drawn from the works of such compositional giants as Beethoven, Debussy, Ravel, Gershwin, Puccini, Verdi, and  Bizet,  the Rommâs demonstrated a flair for their own unique arrangements, producing some wonderfully lyric and expressive musical moments, and capturing the essence of melody and accompaniment in each ong they played.  Most of their songs may not have been written for the two instruments of piano and trumpet alone, but as Avis Romm explained to the audience, perhaps composers like Debusssy, "didnât realize how well they had written for the trumpet.!"
 In addition to the music, which wafted with a sweet sensuousness unlike what I would have expected from a trumpet player, part of the charm of the evening was the dialogue between the musicians and the audience itself.  After their opening number, one or the other of the Rommâs would introduce each piece, often with a note of history about the composer.  And in the showâs closing, the couple even took questions from the audience, telling us that they had been married for 32 years, and that they met in an "extremely difficult" ear training class at the Julliard School of Music in New York.

 One of the musical highlights came just before intermission, when Avis introduced Ronald as one of the "sopranos."  He reappeared onstage dressed in an outlandish wig, and a red apron, to play songs from "The Ultimate Opera."  They included poetic and powerful renditions of "Un Belle Dei" from  Pucinniâs "Madama Butterfly,"  and arias from Georges Bizetâs "Carmen," and Guiseppi Verdiâs "La Traviata."  These, along with number after number, were greeted with enthusiastic applause and shouts of "bravo!"
 Ronald Romm opened his concert by playing a haunting rendition of "Amazing Grace" from the wings of the stage.  Then he came onstage to play a very smoothly written song called "Seeing the Light," and a second with a Mexican flair called "Jubilation." ö both compositions written by Ronald and Avis.
 The program included "Pavane" by French Composer Ravel, who so named it as a song for a dead princess, "because it was the only title he could think of."  The Debussy classic, "Clair De Lune," a feat for any accomplished pianist, was given a new meaning with Ronald playing the trumpet on the melodic highlights, while Avis continued with the continuing arpeggios of the piece.

 I enjoyed the demonstration of "triple tonguing" which Ronald brought to his presentation of "The Carnival of Venice," by Del Staigers.  It is a fun song, known to many schoolchildren as the melody used in the game song, "My Hat It Has Three Corners."
 The strength of Beethoven was evident in the playing of the Adagio Cantibile for the "Pathetique" Sonata, where the two musicians again combined to demonstate a very unfamiliar element of the trumpet, an evocative, emotive, and eloquent style that wooed the listener.
 After the intermission, Ronald and Avis combined for a very lively presentation of  the "Three Preludes" by George Gershwin.  A question and answer period followed, before the final number, an amazing and thoroughly satisfying playing of Gershwinâs "Rhapsody in Blue," with Romm doing things on a trumpet I thought only possible with a clarinet or a slide trombone.  The arrangement was from the famous Russian trumpet player, Dokzhitzer, who the Rommâs met several years ago when he was on an American tour.

 Ronald Romm, a founding member of the "Canadian Brass" group, is now in the second year of his solo career, and he and Avis make their home in Sarasota, Florida, with their two teenage sons.  They welcome email, and can be reached at their web site at www.MusicRomm.com.