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Guitarist extraordinare Gene Bertoncini wows,
soothes and swings his way through eleven gorgeous
jazz classics on Acoustic
Romance, strumming, picking,
running up and down the neck of his nylon-string
acoustic guitar with the intricate multi-layered
stylings true to his architectural training.
While it can be said that the world doesn’t
need another guitar trio record, this one is an
exception for many reasons: from the elaborate
reharmonizing of “Edelweiss” to the
snappy “Invitation,” Bertoncini,
along with the masterful bassist Rufus Reid and
the equally inventive drummer Akira Tana, succeeds
in making all of these standards sound like his
own.
Some examples: “The Shadow of Your Smile,” normally
a medium tempo swinger, begins with a rubato solo
guitar intro; Reid’s arco bowing, along with
shimmering cymbals from Tana, leads into the melody.
Bertoncini’s style blends seamlessly from
blurring chord riffs to simple yet elegant single
note lines, ending with groups of intricate block
chords. On Henry Mancini’s “Two For
the Road,” Bertoncini’s introduction
begins with the melody in the lower register of
the guitar, chord voicings placed lovingly above
it, and, seamlessly switching into the upper register
and, with a nod to “I’m in the Mood
for Love” (at least that’s what it
sounds like), the trio enters with a beautiful
vamp, leading into Reid’s thoughtful, gentle
treatment of the melody, then trading back to Bertoncini’s
embellishment.
It is said that studying with Bertoncini enables
you to see the neck of the guitar in the most organized
way possible. A perfect example of this: “’Round
Midnight” begins with a pensive, steady chord
sequence, followed by an intricate chord melody
that grows every eight bars, from spare, contrapuntal
lines weaving around the original to dense harmonic
substitutions, back to simple counterpoint, into
lighter chords with basslines added in.
Ending with “Cavatina” (the theme
from the 1978 movie The Deer Hunter), the trio
evokes a pensive mood, an appropriate way to quietly,
peacefully end a truly lovely
hour-long journey.
[This review originally appeared in AllAboutJazz-New
York.]
— Amanda Monaco
© 2003
All About Jazz
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