"It is fitting that the alto saxophonist with the purest, warmest alto sound should decide to do an album of romantic ballads. With this new CD, Larry Nozero has not only collected together some of the most beautiful melodies written, but has fulfilled a long-time dream of recording with strings. This CD, appropriately entitled Warm, is unabashedly intended to appeal to your romantic side and to make you feel warm inside. Got a special someone whose heart you want to thaw? Want to smooth out the nerve endings after a stressful day? Or just like to hear full, rich, beautiful sounds? Then this CD is for you

The musical talents of alto saxophonist Larry Nozero should be known far and wide. He has a loyal following in the Detroit area, but he undoubtedly deserves broader exposure. In Today's world, recordings provide such a forum, and thus we certainly need more examples of his playing on CD. In a partial effort to fill this void, Dominic Records has released Warm... which features Nozero accompanied by members of his regular quartet, sometimes replaced by other colleagues, augmented by a septet of string players as well as, on some tracks, percussion, synthesizer, and guitar.

The repertoire consts of comtemporary ballads from the pens of composers such as Legrand, Jibim, Mancini, Quincy Jones, and even Lennon/McCartney. Nozero plays with great beauty, delicacy, and restraint, and his personal tone is very much in evidence... Some great saxophonists have made such records: Charlie Parker, Sonny Stitt, Stan Getz, and Paul Desmond immediately come too mind. All of them used the occasion to create some magnificent music, and so does Nozero. Let us hope that this is but the first in a series of recordings that will allow the saxophonist to demonstrate his superior skills in various environments. Nozero also makes an appearance on Hope for the Holidays, a fabulous collection of Christmas songs recorded by some of Detroit's finest musicians as a benefit for Focus: HOPE, a local civil and human rights organization.