
DATE: Thursday, November 13, 1997           TAG: 9711130760

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   83 lines

MUSIC, ITALIAN STYLE, COMES FROM THE HEART

THEY'RE ROMANTIC. They're melodious. They're good music. ``But they have a today sound,'' says Pat Curtis, a Hampton Roads pianist and big-band musician.

Curtis was describing the songs written and sung by Tiero Cavalieri on a new recording scheduled to make its debut this week. Curtis did the arrangements and assembled the musicians for the recording.

Cavalieri is known as Walter in Portsmouth, which became his home when he married sculptor Sue Landerman last year.

Still, Cavalieri sings his love songs in Italian.

Cavalieri, who admits only to being ``over 50,'' says he has loved music all his life.

But he never sang in public until 1990, when he was dining at an Italian restaurant in Miami. At the urging of friends, he got up and performed ``I Left My Heart in San Francisco.''

It was for fun, but people liked him, he said.

``He used to be real shy about singing for others,'' his wife said. ``After that night, he called up and said, `I think I lose my timid.' And he's been singing ever since.''

Cavalieri, who is still polishing his English, has performed in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami and Providence, R.I., and in the Italian cities of Genoa, Santa Margherita and Portofio.

He got around to writing his own songs in 1993, when he did ``What Kind of Life,'' and that is the title of the new recording. In Hampton Roads, he tried to get others to perform his music and even considered using other singers for the recording. But he decided to do the vocals himself with some help of Mare Carmody, a radio announcer who sits in with blues and country bands and who sings two numbers on the recording.

``Originally, I want someone to sing them,'' Cavalieri said. ``But now I had to sing them.''

Pat Curtis gave him this advice: ``Just be yourself.''

The recording is good, Curtis said. ``The more I've heard it, the better I like it. ... I think Walter's songs are wonderful.''

Nine of the 11 pieces on the recording are Cavalieri's. The other two are George Gershwin's ``Embraceable You'' and Ferdinando Stellini's ``Because of You,'' both with Italian lyrics by Cavalieri.

``He's very comfortable singing in Italian,'' his wife said.

Landerman and Cavalieri have known each other for 12 years, but they started talking about marriage only two years ago. She's listed as the recording's producer.

``I needed this person, the right person, to believe in my music,'' he said.

``He helps me with my sculpture, and I help him with his music,'' she said.

Cavalieri was born in Milan, where his father and grandfather were cardiologists. When he was younger, he was a police officer, then he became a banker in Genoa.

``For 30 years I was a banker. I retire to do other things.''

Over the years, Cavalieri's hobby has been boxing. He was commissioner of boxing for the province of Liguria, Italy, and then joined the International Boxing Federation in 1985. He was a judge and referee for matches all over the world, including 35 world championship fights in places like Berlin, Paris, Las Vegas and Barcelona.

But music was in his heart, he said.

``I am fortunate I met Pat Curtis,'' Cavalieri said. She not only did his arrangements but also gathered a group of professional musicians to play the music.

``They are the musician's musicians,'' Cavalieri said. MEMO: The recording, on CD and tape, will be available at Birdland

Records, Tapes and Compact Discs, 957 Providence Square, Virginia Beach,

beginning Friday. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

SUE CAVALIERI

This is a detail of the cover photo for Tiero ``Walter'' Cavalieri's

album ``What Kind of Life.''

Graphic

WANT TO GO?

What: Performance by vocalist Tiero ``Walter'' Cavalieri and

pianist Pat Curtis

When: Friday, 8 to 10 p.m.

Where: Il Giardino, a restaurant at 10th Street and Atlantic