Lonardo is a magical name in Paris music
By BILL McCUTCHEON
P-I Staff WriterSeveral years ago, a Memphis musician named King Curtis recorded a song called “Memphis Soul Stew,” the essence of which was mixing in so much of each instrument in his band while cooking up a dance hit.
Coming up Aug. 14, the Lee Academy for the Arts will be mixing up some “Cool Summer Blues” at the Krider Performing Arts Center.
Memphis’ own Di Anne Price and Her Boyfriends will headline the show, but an important ingredient in the show — especially for local folks — will be her drummer, Paris’ own Tom Lonardo.
Price sings and plays piano in the group; the other two “boyfriends” are Jim Spake on saxophone and Tom Goodwin on bass. The show at KPAC is set for 7 p.m. with $15 general admission tickets available at Jack Jones Flowers & Gifts and Leach’s Music in downtown Paris as well as The Nest at 809 E. Wood St. Reserved seats are $25 but available only at Paris Civic Center, 650 Volunteer Drive.
Lonardo is the son of the late Tom and Claire Lonardo. A native of Rhode Island, the older Tom met Claire Taylor while he was stationed at Camp Tyson during World War II.
The Army brought him here because he was a musician and so became a third of The Tyson Trio, playing string bass and providing music for the officers’ club.
He also played bass horn in the camp band.
When the war ended, he went to work as chief chemist for Bowling Green Rubber Company, which was bought many years later by Harold Plumley.
After their marriage, Tommy was born and Tom surrounded him with music.
“Growing up in Paris was a carefree, wonderful time that afforded freedom and the experience of being around the musicians in Daddy’s band,” he said recently by phone from his studio in Memphis.
“Later, of course, he opened the music store (Lonardo Piano Co.),” he recalled, “and that would have been, I guess, the late fifties or early sixties.”
While his dad played bass, Tommy heard the call of the drums and took up the beat.
“Private music instruction from the late Bill Crosswy and piano lessons from Mrs. George Covington and other local teachers only got me more and more involved.
“I was also powerfully influenced by Chuck Simmons, the ace Murray drummer who played in Daddy’s band,” Lonardo said.
Those days also were filled with jam sessions and gigs with other local musicians.
“Well, three of the notables are, unfortunately, no longer with us: Steve Ross, Steve Clark and Larry Pierce,” Lonardo said, “but there was also Jimmy Tubbs, Sam Knott and Bill Neese.
“Some of the local gigs we played included the old Sportsman Inn, Paris Country Club, Teen Tavern and Clem and Ruby (Krider’s) ‘Ye Olde Time Minstrel.’”
Graduating from Grove High School in 1966, Tommy headed to Ole Miss on a music scholarship where he played drums for the jazz band and studied composition. Tom began to write music for the band and other university ensembles with two being published.
“In 1969, I was privileged to tour Europe with the university’s pop ensemble called The Group,” he said, “and I guess the world just began to open as I, heavily influenced by the feel of soul music and blues, began to listen to Cannonball Adderley, Miles Davis and others, gaining a great appreciation for the music of Memphis.”
He received his master’s of music from Ole Miss in 1972, and attended the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston to study drum set with Dave Brubeck’s percussionist, Alan Dawson.
Completing his studies there, he went on a short road trip with The Royal American Showmen, then moved to Memphis.
There, more doors opened with a chance to work with such “inside” Memphis musicians as Steve Cropper, T.G. Sheppard and the late Rufus Thomas.
Gigs at Holiday Inns around Memphis and with the Tom Ferguson Trio gave him a chance to really discover jazz music from a performance point of view.
“By that time, I had began to form some definite ideas about drums, writing and music,” he said, “and, in 1974, began teaching music theory and percussion at Southwest Tennessee Community College.
“A year later, I became the percussionist at the chief producer of radio and television in the country, William B. Tanner Co.”
By the mid-1980s, another important phase of his life began. He married Suzanne Campbell and they soon had two sons. Taylor, now 26, also has a degree in music and is a bass player in Murfreesboro. Griffin, 21, is a student at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
“Taylor is actually using Daddy’s old bass,” Lonardo said.
He and his partners began Genuine Memphis Music Jingles in 1989 and they provide advertising music for radio and television clients.
The group that will be appearing at KPAC Aug. 14 has spread Memphis music in concerts from Canada to Texas. They also have recorded four compact discs.
Bill McCutchen - Paris Post Intelligencer (Aug 16, 2010)