Jazz-funk: “Mystic Brew”

In 2000 Gene Bertoncini issued Body and Soul in solitary playing jazz standards with arrangements that mix the strict technique of classical guitar with the unlimited possibilities of jazz re-harmonization. That same year Just the Two of Us appeared with a performance he offered on a cruise in 1998 with the also guitarist Jack Wilkins, in which his cool jazz style perfectly integrates with Wilkins’ more aggressive hard bop approach. In 2001, Autumn Leaves at Astley’s saw the light, which includes a gig duo with guitarist Frank Vignola, and contributed to guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli’s Passionate Guitars, covering several styles of jazz and bossa nova.

In 2002 Bertoncini met again with Pizzarelli, but to play in duet in Meeting of the Grooves, where we find Great American Songbook standards and a selection of stimulating bossa nova songs by Antonio Carlos Jobim. The following year came Acoustic Romance (2003), recorded in 1992 in a trio with Rufus Reid on double bass and Akira Tana on drums, in which Bertoncini plays in a sentimental and melodious way. The album made it to the top ten on the jazz charts and was first on Jazziz magazine’s list of twenty best acoustic guitar CDs. In 2005 he introduced Quiet Now solo, except for two compositions by Billy Strayhorn, in which he is joined by his friend double bassist Michael Moore, and Just Above a Whisper.

In 2008 it was followed by Jazz Therapy, Vol. 1: Smile, in which he plays again in duet, this time with Israeli guitarist Roni Ben-Hur, as a tribute to double bassist Earl May, who both knew well and had recently passed away. The album consists of jazz standards plus two new themes by Bertoncini and two more by Ben-Hur. While the first is classic and romantic in the harmonic side, the second improvises full of youthful energy reminiscent of Kenny Burrell. That same year Bertoncini released Concerti with David Finck on double bass and a string quartet conducted by Michael Paterson. The music of the quartet is interactive and elegantly embedded in the guitarist and double bassist’s speech. In 2009 Bertoncini recorded his last album 2 + 2 = 1. From 1996 to 2012 he played alone every Sunday and Monday at the Le Madeleine restaurant in Manhattan (one of the five counties of New York City). His repertoire consisted of jazz standards, bossa nova and his own arrangements of classical music pieces.