Gene Bertoncini
Encyclopedia
Biography
Bertoncini was born in New York City, where he was raised in a musical family. His father played guitar and harmonica. Bertoncini began playing guitar at age seven and by age sixteen was appearing on television. He graduated from high school and attended the University of Notre DameUniversity of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
, where he obtained a degree in architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
. Bertoncini resides in New York City.
Early in life, Bertoncini had lessons with Johnny Smith
Johnny Smith
Johnny Smith is an American cool jazz and mainstream jazz guitarist.-Early years:...
. After college Bertoncini moved to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
where he became immersed in the jazz scene, working with Carmen McRae
Carmen McRae
Carmen Mercedes McRae was an American jazz singer, composer, pianist, and actress. Considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century, it was her behind-the-beat phrasing and her ironic interpretations of song lyrics that made her memorable...
. He returned to New York and played with vibraphonist
Vibraphonist
Notable players of the vibraphone include:* Peter Appleyard* Roy Ayers* Karl Berger* Jeff Berman* Jack Brokensha* Larry Bunker* Christian Burchard* Rusty Burge* Gary Burton* Joe Chambers* Teddy Charles* Salem Chiles* John Cocuzzi* Monte Croft...
Mike Mainieri
Mike Mainieri
Michael T. Mainieri, Jr. is a vibraphonist best known for his work with the jazz fusion group Steps Ahead....
and then played in one of Buddy Rich
Buddy Rich
Bernard "Buddy" Rich was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" and was known for his virtuosic technique, power, groove, and speed.-Early life:...
's ensembles. Bertoncini's career has included playing with Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
, Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards...
, Hubert Laws
Hubert Laws
Hubert Laws is an American flutist and saxophonist with a 40+ year career in jazz, classical, and other music genres. Alongside Herbie Mann, Laws is probably the most recognized and respected jazz flutist...
, Paul Desmond
Paul Desmond
Paul Desmond , born Paul Emil Breitenfeld, was a jazz alto saxophonist and composer born in San Francisco, best known for the work he did in the Dave Brubeck Quartet and for penning that group's greatest hit, "Take Five"...
, Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....
, Lena Horne
Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...
, Nancy Wilson, Vic Damone
Vic Damone
Vic Damone is an American singer and entertainer.- Early life :Damone was born Vito Rocco Farinola in Brooklyn, New York to French-Italian immigrants based in Bari, Italy—Rocco and Mamie Farinola. His father was an electrician; and his mother taught piano. His cousin was the actress and singer...
, and Eydie Gorme
Eydie Gormé
Eydie Gormé is an American singer, specializing, with her husband, Steve Lawrence, in traditional pop music, in the form of ballads and breezy swing. She has earned numerous awards, including the Grammy and the Emmy...
among others.
Bertoncini had a long-running duo with bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Michael Moore
Michael Moore (bassist)
Michael Moore is an American jazz bassist.Moore started on bass at age 15, at Withrow High School in Cincinnati, where he performed in various ensembles as well as the Presentation Orchestra in George G. "Smittie" Smith's famed The Withrow Minstrels. He played with his father in nightclubs in...
. He was part of the staff orchestras on shows featuring Merv Griffin
Merv Griffin
Mervyn Edward "Merv" Griffin, Jr. was an American television host, musician, actor, and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer who went on to appear in movies and on Broadway. From 1965 to 1986 Griffin hosted his own talk show, The Merv Griffin Show on Group W Broadcasting...
, Jack Paar
Jack Paar
Jack Harold Paar was an author, American radio and television comedian and talk show host, best known for his stint as host of The Tonight Show from 1957 to 1962...
and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....
. After hearing a Julian Bream
Julian Bream
Julian Bream, CBE is an English classical guitarist and lutenist and is one of the most distinguished classical guitarists of the 20th century. He has also been successful in renewing popular interest in the Renaissance lute....
record at the advice of Chuck Wayne
Chuck Wayne
Chuck Wayne was a jazz guitarist who came to prominence in the 1940s. He is best known for his work with Woody Herman's First Herd, and for being the first guitarist in the George Shearing quintet...
, Bertoncini began studying classical guitar and brought the instrument into playing jazz. For some eighteen years, Bertoncini played Sunday and Monday evenings at the Bistro La Madeleine on West 43rd St. in New York City.
Bertoncini has been on the faculties of Eastman School of Music
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
, the New England Conservatory, New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
and the Banff School of Fine Arts in Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Gene Bertoncini is on the faculty of William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey. He is also on the staff of the Tritone Jazz Fantasy Camps.
Reception
Review of Acoustic Romance and The Good Stuff: A Tribute to Charlie ByrdCharlie Byrd
Charlie Lee Byrd was a famous and versatile American guitarist born in Suffolk, Virginia. His earliest and strongest musical influence was Django Reinhardt, the famous gypsy guitarist. Byrd became the American guitarist who best understood and played Brazilian music, especially the Bossa Nova genre...
:
"While electric instruments dominate the jazz guitar world, a minority of players choose to use the acoustic nylon-string, not only for its sonic properties but also because it more agreeably supports fingerstyle technique, which opens up a whole spectrum of musical possibilities not otherwise obtainable. One of the finest players among this discerning breed is Gene Bertoncini, whose command of harmony and texture can transform even the most mundane tune into an intriguing, multidimensional masterpiece, something he does with certainty on both Acoustic Romance and The Good Stuff, varying projects that showcase the scope of his considerable abilities." (Jim Ferguson
Jim Ferguson
Jim Ferguson is an American guitarist, composer, music educator, author, and music journalist/editor.Born in Dayton, Ohio, Jim Ferguson began his early music education playing the trombone at age 7, and then after eight years of study, switched to the guitar at age 15...
, JazzTimes
JazzTimes
JazzTimes is a magazine that dates back to Radio Free Jazz, a publication founded in 1970 by Ira Sabin when he was operating a record store in Washington, DC. It was originally a newsletter designed to update shoppers on the latest jazz releases and provide jazz radio programmers with a means of...
)
Review of Body and Soul:
"Gene Bertoncini--who plays the nylon-string acoustic guitar with his fingers, a situation ideally suited for solo work--creates sounds that are refined, elegant, and complex. His playing works a tune from the inside, fully exploring its harmonic, melodic, and textural implications much like a classical composer develops an idea on paper." (Jim Ferguson
Jim Ferguson
Jim Ferguson is an American guitarist, composer, music educator, author, and music journalist/editor.Born in Dayton, Ohio, Jim Ferguson began his early music education playing the trombone at age 7, and then after eight years of study, switched to the guitar at age 15...
, JazzTimes
JazzTimes
JazzTimes is a magazine that dates back to Radio Free Jazz, a publication founded in 1970 by Ira Sabin when he was operating a record store in Washington, DC. It was originally a newsletter designed to update shoppers on the latest jazz releases and provide jazz radio programmers with a means of...
)
Review of Just the Two of Us:
"This album, recorded live in 1998, pairs not only two masters of the guitar, but also two distinctly different instruments and approaches. Bertoncini employs a nylon-string with fingerstyle technique akin to that of a classical player, while Wilkins uses a traditional archtop electric and essentially is a pick specialist. The net outcome is intricate, spontaneous music that is frequently brilliant in both conception and execution." (Jim Ferguson
Jim Ferguson
Jim Ferguson is an American guitarist, composer, music educator, author, and music journalist/editor.Born in Dayton, Ohio, Jim Ferguson began his early music education playing the trombone at age 7, and then after eight years of study, switched to the guitar at age 15...
, JazzTimes
JazzTimes
JazzTimes is a magazine that dates back to Radio Free Jazz, a publication founded in 1970 by Ira Sabin when he was operating a record store in Washington, DC. It was originally a newsletter designed to update shoppers on the latest jazz releases and provide jazz radio programmers with a means of...
)
Discography
- 1963: Macanudo - Ahmad JamalAhmad JamalAhmad Jamal is an innovative and influential American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. According to Stanley Crouch, Jamal is second in importance in the development of jazz after 1945 only to Charlie Parker...
- 1968: Manhattan Serenade - Earl ColemanEarl Coleman (singer)Earl Coleman was a jazz singer.Moving to Indianapolis in 1939, he started singing with Ernie Fields and Bardu Ali...
- 1968: The Winter Consort
- 1970: Bridge Over Troubled WaterBridge Over Troubled Water (Paul Desmond album)Bridge Over Troubled Water is a 1969 studio album by Paul Desmond. It consists of songs recorded by Simon & Garfunkel and arranged by Don Sebesky.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Richard S...
- Paul DesmondPaul DesmondPaul Desmond , born Paul Emil Breitenfeld, was a jazz alto saxophonist and composer born in San Francisco, best known for the work he did in the Dave Brubeck Quartet and for penning that group's greatest hit, "Take Five"... - 1970: Odyssey of IskaOdyssey of IskaOdyssey of Iska is a 1971 album by American jazz composer and saxophonist Wayne Shorter, released on Blue Note Records. The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow states "On the verge of joining Weather Report , it is not surprising that Shorter's originals include titles such as 'Wind,' 'Storm,' and "Calm'...
- Wayne ShorterWayne ShorterWayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards... - 1972: The Two Headed FreapThe Two Headed FreapThe Two Headed Freap is the debut album by American organist Ronnie Foster recorded in 1972 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...
- Ronnie FosterRonnie FosterRonnie Foster is an American funk and soul-jazz organist, and record producer. His albums recorded for Blue Note Records in the 1970s has obtained a cult following after the emergence of acid-jazz.-Biography:... - 1976: A Piece Of The Apple - New York MaryNew York MaryNew York Mary was an American jazz/rock fusion group, which released two albums on Arista/Freedom Records in 1976. A Piece Of The Apple was produced by Michael Cuscuna and Don Elliot...
- 1977: Bridges - with Michael MooreMichael Moore (bassist)Michael Moore is an American jazz bassist.Moore started on bass at age 15, at Withrow High School in Cincinnati, where he performed in various ensembles as well as the Presentation Orchestra in George G. "Smittie" Smith's famed The Withrow Minstrels. He played with his father in nightclubs in...
- 1984: Close Ties - with Michael Moore
- 1986: O Grande Amor - with Michael Moore
- 1987: Strollin - with Michael Moore
- 1989: Two In Time - with Michael Moore
- 1993: Acoustic Romance
- 1993: Jobim: Someone to Light Up My Life
- 1996: My Life
- 1999: Body and Soul
- 2000: Just The Two Of Us - with Jack Wilkins
- 2002: Meeting of the Grooves - with Frank Vignola
- 2005: Quiet Now
- 2008: Concerti
- 2007: Floating on the Silence - with Tom Wolfe
- 2008: Smile - with Roni Ben-HurRoni Ben-HurRoni Ben-Hur is a Tunisian-Israeli bebop jazz guitarist who emigrated to the United States in 1985. His third CD, Anna's Dance, was rated by The Village Voice as one of the best jazz CDs of 2001...
(Motéma MusicMotéma MusicMotéma Music is an American record label focused on jazz and world music, as well as other creative projects by virtuosic musicians who also compose. It was founded by Jana Herzen in 2003, and is now based in Harlem, New York City...
)