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Famed New Orleans jazz pianist Ronnie Kole will be featured Sunday in the Hamilton Fairfield Symphony Orchestra's annual David L. Belew American Masters Concert.

Kole, who gave a Katrina Benefit Concert in Hamilton in October 2005, has performed for five presidents, as well as Pope John Paul II. 

"Ronnie Kole is a fixture in New Orleans," said conductor Paul Stanbery. "We know people will want to hear this jazz legend in person.

Kole credits the late jazz trumpeter Al Hirt for getting his career off the ground by insisting that he leave his steady gigs in his hometown of Chicago and go on the road.

"Al and I had been good friends while I was working in New Orleans when he was first starting to be recognized," Kole said. "I went back to Chicago when he hit it big and would come back to do shows with him.

"One day, he told me 'You're as good as Liberace or Peter Nero. You should go on the road and let people know about you.'"

And so he did, becoming a fixture on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" and in Las Vegas as well as performing concerts across the country until Hirt tapped him to alternate weeks with him when he opened up his New Orleans club.

After two years in Hirt's club, Hirt again encouraged him to take the next step in his career.

"He said, 'You're getting too big to be under my wing, you need your own club,'" Kole said. "So I opened up Kole's Corner on Bourbon Street across from Pete Fountain's club."

"When God gives you a talent, you have to share it," he said.

how to go

WHAT: Hamilton Fairfield Symphony Orchestra featuring Ronnie Kole.

WHERE: Princeton Pike Church of God, 6101 Princeton Glendale Road, Hamilton.

WHEN: 2 p.m. Sunday, March 4, 2007.

COST: $10.

MORE INFO: (513) 895-5151; hfso.org.