HERE IS WHAT SOME PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT MY NEW ALBUM! “MY CLASSICAL PASSION is a fine example of how the trumpet should be played in that genre. Peter’s articulation and intonation is superb. But, most importantly, is his phrasing and emotions which musicians should strive for but rarely achieve. Bravo!” – JOE BATTAGLIA, lead trumpeter and band leader of the JB NY Big Band “This is a major achievement and Peter is all over that horn: great sound, great articulation, range, expression, and all done with feeling and respect and love for the music. I like all the tracks, especially West End Blues (nailed it!), Luz-Marilyn, and Trumpeter's Lullaby. Again, really great trumpet playing. People should hear this. Congratulations!” – BOB ARTHURS, master Jazz trumpeter and educator “Very impressive CD! Great sound, beautiful music and excellent playing. I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it!” – BOB MILLIKAN, renowned session lead trumpet player for the likes of such stars as Barbara Streisand, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Nancy Wilson, Diana Ross, Sammy Davis Jr, etc. "This is a beautiful piece of work! Peter’s playing is pitch perfect & the musicians accompanying him are as good as they get! This is a great collection of music to have on around the house or in the car! Prepare to be enlightened! Excellent work Peter!” -- PAUL TUVMAN, Smooth Jazz pianist and recording artist—whose latest album is entitled “Musically Speaking” “This album sounds really great and Peter sounds amazing! The recording is so clean – the piano, trumpet, tone, mix, etc. Really fine! His original – ‘Luz-Marilyn’ – takes the ear to new places. Beautifully played!” -- FRANK SQUILLANTE, fine Jazz piano soloist–whose latest album is entitled “Take Me There” “This is a remarkable CD all the way through and I was totally blown away by Peter's stupendous achievement. WOW!!!–What a tour de force! A virtuoso performance of dazzling diversity! I’m especially fond of the unaccompanied trumpet solos and duets with Svetlana, but there are marvels to savor in every track. BRAVO!” — CHARLIE FREEMAN, accomplished Jazz pianist with the Norm Hathaway Big Band, the Bensen-Scott Big Band, and the Bearcats Jazz Band HI EVERYONE AND WELCOME... to my very first major solo effort!—My own sort of “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” if you will, as this album has really been almost 40 years in the making. It is comprised of pieces that have deeply impacted me along the path of my musical journey of discovery, on which I continue to travel...and hopefully still grow. Rather than recording typical pieces from within the standard Classical Trumpet repertoire, I specifically chose to use pieces that I felt I actually had something unique, new or at least different to say on them. I will also warn you that my classical approach is not necessarily conventionally ‘square.’ I have been deeply affected by the many other types of musical styles that I have also studied and performed throughout my career, and thus they too have tainted, or rather influenced, my sound as well. My philosophy—adopted from the great Duke Ellington—is simple; that there are really only two types of music: Good and bad. My hope is that you will listen to my record with open-minded ears, give my approach a chance—and find it to be in the former of those two categories! There are 4 different sonic variations on the album—designed to keep the ear interested and prevent everything from sounding all the same: 1) Trumpet & Piano (with maybe some trumpet &/or trombone overdubs) 2) Trumpet, Piano, & Voice 3) multi-Trumpets unaccompanied (with maybe some trombone too) 4) solo Trumpet I played ALL the horns (trumpets, flugelhorns, cornets, & trombones) on this album, and unless otherwise indicated, I also arranged all the music, & programed all the sound effects. I was honored to have been accompanied by a world-class pianist—Svetlana Gorokhovich, and soprano vocalist Jeanette Spoor. As you will hear, my intended design of the album was to appeal to a wide variety of listeners: complex and intense enough for the actual Classical aficionado—but still light and listener-friendly enough for the majority of ‘regular people’ who probably have much other preferred tastes in music. My goal was to make an album that ANYONE and EVERYONE could enjoy and will want to keep in their frequent listening queue…and not be just a onetime pass through. And the music itself is actually healthy for you; it’s intellectually stimulating—audible ‘brain food’ to fuel your mind and to nourish your soul—not merely just typically dumbed-down mindless ‘entertainment’. I am extremely proud of this album—I went first class all the way on it and spared no expense! With 70+ minutes of music, I think you will find that there is plenty on it for you to musically “digest”. Symbolically from the sun-up of Gottfried Reiche’s Abblasen until the sun-down of Leroy Anderson’s Lullaby, my mind is always busy working on my music. I hope you will enjoy this brief glimpse into My Classical Passion. –PjB ...AN INTERVIEW WITH PETER J BLUME ON HIS RECENT ALBUM PROJECT "My Classical Passion": Q: What was the purpose of this album? A: Firstly, it was something I’ve been wanting to do for awhile. I’d played on many other artists’ projects before, but I never put out anything of my own. It became apparent that it was finally time—not just musically, but also the next step with promoting myself; it was in the natural progression of where I was at. Also, they say that timing is everything. Many things just came together all at once and fell right into place: extra available monies from a new retro-contract at work; my kids being still young enough and my parents not being too old yet—to require too much of my time elsewhere; meeting and working with the great Rock/Pop producer Aaron Accetta (Dirty Canvas Music, Needle Down Studios)—which then indirectly caused me to meet and want to work with Shaul Dover (Sweatshop Studios)…which then fatefully returned me to Aaron--who then referred me to a great Classical/Jazz producer Jay Fallon (Bimperl Studios) and introduced me to Joe Costable (an amazing sound engineer!); working musically first with pianist Nadia Papayani—which allowed me to try the material out—and then with A-list pianist Svetlana Gorokhovich to dig in even deeper on them, etc. There was also the thought that it was possibly now or never. There might just never be a better time. Q: Why a Classical Album? A: These days, I tend to find myself listening to and interested in mostly Classical music—especially since the birth of my children, and in wanting to expose them to this great foundational music. Although I was primarily Classically trained, after the Mozarteum, I became very interested in and curious about Jazz—so then I immersed myself in studying that. Of course most of my gigs for the past 20+ years have been more in some form of Rock/Pop based music. So I learned how to write and play effectively (and add value) in that context as well—like for horn sections and how to solo appropriately for that kind of music. My initial desire was really to do a Contemporary (or Smooth) Jazz album. Yes, I am a guy who can play "real" Jazz, but who actually likes the “smooth” stuff too; very few of us will actually admit that! I am a huge fan of Dave Grusin, Bob James, David Benoit, the Rippingtons, Acoustic Alchemy, Fourplay, Joe Sample, Lee Ritenour, Earl Klugh, Dave Valentine, etc—all the “old school” guys in that genre. But honestly I was very leery (for my 1st project) of having to try and assemble too many musicians all at once—which I knew it would require, at least to do it the way I would want to. It would certainly entail having to try and coordinate all their very different schedules—in order to try and rehearse solidly together as a band, and then to record. And then of course you also have to pay them all to care enough about what is really YOUR project and for them to want to rehearse. It all gets complicated and expensive rather quickly. The Jazz (or even Smooth Jazz) thing will probably be what I do for an encore (my 2nd project) if I ever do another one, but so I came to the realization that I could probably make a very high quality Classical album that might require only 1 or 2 other musicians. I was not going to just sit around waiting any longer for the pipe dream of a symphony orchestra to come around looking for me! I was going to record this great stuff (that I had already been playing) small first—with a better chance of symphony work to then possibly come out of it. My thinking is that it’ll either open some doors for me, or be a chance for me to finally close this one and move on. I also knew that if nothing else, I could sell this album. I think that a Jazz album might have been too intellectually-niched a place for me to start, and a Rock album also might not appeal to everyone—especially to older people. And for the record, I like old people—they tend to have better taste in music! LOL. I figured that if I kept it light and listener-friendly enough, I could still get the open minded people from say the Jazz and Rock communities to give my Classical album a chance listen…and purchase. Of course I would still need to include enough chops and substance for the actual Classical aficionados, but if I did it right, I felt I had the best chance of reaching my widest possible demographic range…and in the process, gaining some real credibility for myself and my playing/writing/artistry. So this album project is like coming full circle—back to my Classical roots. It’s sort of like a “Mr Holland’s Opus” for me and on it, I honor many of the people who have had a profound affect and influence on my “musical journey”. But I am by no means a Classical purist. The most important word in my album title is “My”—because it gives me the freedom to interpret the Classical Music as I hear it. I would hate to be pigeon-holed here as a “Classical Musician”. It would also be a disservice to those artists who have dedicated their entire artistic careers to specializing in that…and it would confine me to a box—when really my uniqueness is how I draw on other influences by “thinking outside the box”! In fact, I’m glad that when people visit my website, the first music that they hear is NOT Classical; it’s Pop, Rock and Jazz—or some mix thereof. But even all of that really stems from my Classical training, if you dig deep enough. A Classical Album helps me to establish some legitimacy, some credibility. There is no hiding behind electronic enhancements. Other than a little reverb and a few added “ear candy” sound effects, what you hear is exactly as it was recorded–and that takes great musicianship and controlled musicality. Skill and confident musical maturity is really what showcases here. It also separates the phonies from what is the real deal. I think this album is a good mix of my technical chops vs. my artistic feel, and yet is still very listener friendly. You won’t be subjected to a lesson in audio-mathematics (having to listen to a math lesson) or long drawn out 'schmaltz'. Q: Are you planning to do a tour in support of this album? A: I think it’s very important to clarify something first: I am an artist, NOT an entertainer. I don’t have a 'schtick'. Hopefully I’m entertainING (as opposed to boring) enough in my craft, but that is not my main purpose. The main purpose is to preserve and continue the tradition and fine art culture of making high quality live music on REAL instruments—and hopefully exposing people to this great music, who may not have ever given it a chance otherwise. It’s all about music education, and helping to elevate the listener, especially in this more technology-obsessed age—where whatever is “new” and flashing quickly enough is all the rage, as opposed to first evaluating if there is even any worthwhile substance in the content. So, without meaning to sound arrogant or unappreciative, I am really not interested in playing this music in those bars, where people are there primarily to get drunk and cheer at whatever dribble is being bombarded into their skulls through their poor unprotected eardrums. Don’t get me wrong, I myself still often enjoy playing with some very good rock bands in those kind of establishments, but I preferably do not make a steady diet of that—for good reason; I’d much rather be playing music where I’m able to inflect my tone using the entire dynamic range, than to be just pushing a 'wall of sound' at one constant level (loud). And those types of places most probably would not want this kind of stuff anyway. I would be after more discerning listeners. If there ever becomes such an interest in my project in some type of better suitable venue, then yes, I will gladly consider performing/touring. - PjB 1/2017. BIOGRAPHY: Peter J Blume is a Classically & Jazz trained musician hailing from the New York area. He studied at the Hoff Barthelson School of Music, the Mozarteum (in Salzburg Austria)--and at the Westchester Conservatory of Music, where he then also taught for 10 years. He has performed at the United Nations, Ellis Island, West Point (the U.S. Military Academy), on Good Morning America (ABC), Saturday Night Live!, and at the first wedding of supermodel Heidi Klum. He has performed the "National Anthem" at various sporting events--including at the Rockland Boulders and the Hudson Valley Renegades. A veteran of the greater-NY jazz, big-band and rock scene, Peter performs regularly with ethnic dance band The Spitzbuam, classic rock cover band Kick Start Charlie, and the Norm Hathaway Big Band. Peter’s session work has included the debut album of best-selling rock band American Authors, “Oh, What a Life.” On this, his debut album "My Classical Passion", Peter also handles the bulk of the album’s arranging, producing and even some composing.