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| Gene Bertoncini |
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Gene Bertoncini is one of the pre-eminent jazz guitarists active today. His fluid technique and lyricism have won him international praise and such accolades as the "Segovia of Jazz." An eloquent and versatile improviser, Mr. Bertoncini has been heard with an extraordinary range of jazz greats, including performances and recordings with Benny Goodman, Buddy Rich, Wayne Shorter, Hubert Laws and Paul Desmond, among others, as well as with such distinguished vocalists as Tony Bennett, Carmen McRae and Lena Horne, Vic Damone and Edye Gorme.
The Washington Post proclaimed his last solo appearance
in New York City the best jazz concert of 1999. Mr. Bertoncini’s acclaim
is hardly confined, though, to this country. His recent CD Someone to Light
Up My Life, contains his own arrangements of the compositions of the great
bossa nova composer Antonio Carlos Jobim, won international raves, including
recognition in Brazilian critic’s and listener’s polls as one of
the ten best jazz recordings of the year; those same polls also named him the
best acoustic jazz guitarist.
Gene Bertoncini has just released a striking new CD on Ambient Records, Body and Soul, which features his own innovative solo arrangements of classic jazz and popular songs.
A prolific and popular studio musician, he has also worked with composers and arrangers such as Lalo Schifrin and Michel Legrand, in addition to numerous television appearances. Mr. Bertoncini has also performed with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He has recently returned from performing solo in a Jazz Festival on the Queen Elizabeth 2 in London and Ireland, and gave a lecture at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
In addition to an active performing and recording schedule, Gene Bertoncini teaches at the Eastman School of Music, the New England Conservatory, New York University, William Patterson University, New York University and the Banff School of Fine Arts. A New York native, Mr. Bertoncini is a graduate of Notre Dame University, from which he received a degree in architecture.