Caught in Concert:
Gene Bertoncini

Starting out with, "I'll have what she had" from the movie soundtrack "When Harry met Sally" he quickly pleased the crowd. He sat hunched over his guitar, peering intently at the strings, his hands flowing through the chords and over the strings seemingly effortlessly. Occasionally he would look and peer into the audience as if to see where his approval rating was, then with a knowing smile he would return to the song at hand. He went directly from one piece to the next, stopping only every three to four songs to introduce the next set. The audience obviously appreciated his skill, with several smiling knowingly at the more complex riffs and others nodding their head contentedly to the beat.

Then switching from his acoustic guitar to his, "Rock and Roll guitar", which looked not unlike the guitar often seen in Chuck Berry's hands (Ed. Note: Gene plays a D'Angelico), he livened up the tempo of the music. This displayed a remarkable ability to make the audience bob their heads along to the beat. After soliciting requests from the audience, he started off into three of them amidst nods and claps of appreciation from the audience.

Finally finishing out with what appeared to be a rendition of "Edelweiss", Bertoncini closed out the show to a very satisfied crowd.

Gene Bertoncini was born in New York City in a year which he disclosed but forbade to be printed. He started guitar lessons at the age of seven and said that he "had a knack for it. It is a great thing to be good at something enough to spend the rest of your life doing it." He listed some of his musical influences as Benny Goodman, Lena Horne, and Tony Bennet, several of which he has played with. When asked what he found to be the most attractive in jazz he responded with, "It is the improvisation, the free element. Jazz has it's own vocabulary, it's own dialect." Bob Patterson, Editor of Jazz Guitar ONLINE, described Gene Bertoncini as, " A great classical and jazz player. In fact, he is one of the few who play excellent jazz on nylon string" Additionally, he told how enjoyable his concerts were. "It is something you should not miss".

When the subject of Jimi Hendrix was broached he said, "He was a unique artist, he knew how to play the amplifier well. I didn't really care for his music though". At this point he grasped me by the shoulder and spoke. "It wouldn't be right for me to say I disliked something. He was interesting and had his own unique way of playing the guitar..it was just the style I didn't care for." He was soft spoken man, but the fire of intensity gleamed brightly behind his eyes.