The Father, The Daughter and The Music

It was the first time I had seen her since last summer in Rehoboth, and she's just getting better. There's no telling what she might do when she gets older -- say 12, maybe 13. But that's years down the road.

Right now, she's got the pipes and she's got presence and she's ready to take them on the road.

And, of course, she's got her father, her musical sidekick who does the driving and makes the introductions.

Sometimes, daughter reaches over father in a cross-armed piano duet. They play alongside each other and off each other.

"It's what we do at the house every night," says Musto. "We love it."

A little family history is in order here. Alisa Musto has some strong musical lines to follow.

Billy Musto was once Billy of Billy and the Kids, a very good rock band that played a lot of clubs in and around Rhode Island. Now, he plays more subdued venues, including the Coast Guard House in Narragansett on Friday and Saturday nights.

Billy's brother, Jimmy, is a percussionist who has performed with the New York Philharmonic.

The Mustos' uncles, George and Tommy Tanous, have been making great music for decades. George even tried to teach me the clarinet once, but we both agreed that Benny Goodman I was not.

And now Alisa, at 9, takes up the family musical tradition. She started playing piano when she was 5. She started listening to good music in a house filled with music long before that.

"I know I'll always play," she says. "But it's too early to think about what I might do with it."

Right now, it's just flat out fun. It's fun to travel with her father. They can remember the times wheh he'd be leaving the house in Rehoboth for a gig and she'd want to go with him.

Now, sometimes, she does.

I last saw the Mustos at the Elmhurst Extended Care Center in Providence a few weeks ago. It's the kind of place they like to play. They can show up in the afternoon, after school at St. Mary Academy-Bay View.

And Alisa Musto, with her long blond hair and solid musical roots, sits down at the keyboard and reaches across a generation or three with songs learned at the piano back home.

The room fills. So does the hallway.

She opens with a little Bach. Then she and her father move all over the musical landscape. There is pop, classical, jazz.

She plays alone. Her father eventually joins in. Then she goes to check out the parakeet in a nearby room while Billy takes over.

It's a fine afternoon. And when it's over, the 9-year-old singer and piano player begins the other part of going on the road -- breaking down the equipment and heading for the car.

If you want to see her, you don't have to go anywhere. Alisa Musto will perform on America's Most Talented Kids on the PAX Network Sunday night at 7.



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