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It’s hard to define City Rhythm.
The Philadelphia-based institution, which was founded in 1979 by sax players Pete Spina and Nick Vallerio, is both an 11-member party band and a 17-member orchestra.
Saxophone players Pete Spina (left) and Nick Vallerio founded City Rhythm in 1979.
Its repertoire has thousands of songs, with many arrangements by Spina. The music includes jazz (“Vibrant Tones” was named one of Jazzweek’s Top 50 CDs for 2005), Italian crooners like Frank Sinatra; modern stars like Rihanna and Bruno Mars; Motown, swing and big-band classics; the blues and funk “sound of Philadelphia” from the 1970s; and even “music to spy by.”
Its performance spaces include weddings and other parties, but also cultural events like St. Nicholas of Tolentine’s annual Italian-American Festival in South Philadelphia and the Feast of San Gennaro in New York, music festivals, appearances with standup comedian Joe Conklin, nightclubs and dancehalls, mostly on the East Coast, and also elsewhere in the United States, plus 16 tours of Italy and five riverboat cruises elsewhere in Europe.
“We always have a fun and an energy of the band that we think is our trademark,” Spina said.
“We bring new life to old music,” he told The Reporter. “It’s the old standards with a kick.”
Spina and Vallerio, on the right, join the City Rhythm ensemble in Fano, Italy, where they
performed at a jazz festival.
The founders are today retired from their day jobs, Spina from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Vallerio as a music teacher with the suburban Abington School District.
They’ve halved their performance schedule, from as many as 200 gigs a year. “We’re now a little more selective,” Vallerio said.
One recent standout performance was the July 8 wedding of New York Giants football player Jon Runyan Jr. and Victoria Schultz. “The newlyweds shared their first dance to ‘Beyond’ by Leon Bridges,” People reported. “The energy on the dance floor was incredible the whole night, thanks to the live band City Rhythm.”
City Rhythm has issued five big CDs, and just finished a recording session of music that Billy Byers arranged for Sinatra and Count Basie – but had never been recorded. Their music and booking details are all on www.cityrhythm.com.
They first toured Italy in 2007 when a promoter from the Poconos with a tour package needed a last-minute replacement for singer Deana Martin. And that turned into a gig almost every summer since, with 50 fans joining them in 2024 in Abruzzo, for their music and the sights and tastes of Italy.
“The history and art in Italy is overwhelming. And when we travel, we incorporate all these places you always dreamed of going to,” said Vallerio, whose family came from L’Acquila, Abruzzo, and Poland. “My mother being Polish, but she learned to cook Italian.”
“We came up with a slogan for the anniversary of our church that was ‘faith, family and tradition,’ Spina said, referring to St. Nicholas of Tolentine, a church based on Italian heritage, rather than a geographic parish and where he has served as choir director for decades.
“I think that speaks to not just the church, but life as I know it in South Philly and my Italian heritage [in Campobasso, Molise, and Sicily]. I grew up with nothing but Italian food.”
“We learn new ways of cooking over there,” Vallerio said, “and we try to incorporate it into our lives here.”
Still some classics reign, like cacio e pepe. “My wife Barbara just made it,” Vallerio said. “She came back from Italy and listening to everyone talk about it, and she just made it and blew it out of the park. In fact, we made our own pasta for that one.”
“They all came down to the Shore this weekend, and I did linguine pescatore,” Spina said. “Everybody’s mom makes the best gravy, right? But my mom’s really was, so I tried to mimic that, me and my sister, watching her over the years. Not that she had any recipes written down.”
In their little free time, they have enjoyed hiking along trails trod by pilgrims, first the whole 790 kilometers of the Camino de Santiago in France and Spain, then trails in Malta and Menorca. . Next up is some part of the Via Francigena, which extends 1,700 kilometers.
“We’d listen to a lot of music during those days,” Vallerio said of their hikes.
“We got exposed to some different sounds, like the amazing Galician bagpipes in western Spain.” Spina added.
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