Jerry Bergonzi's " Nearly Blue" Making the standards his own.

Jerry Bergonzi Trio: Nearly Blue Savant SCD 2180

The tenor saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi has released his latest album Nearly Blue on producer Barney Field’s Savant label and he once again proves that a passion for the standards imbued with enough personal creativity can make those songs your own. I have been following this iconoclastic, force of energy tenorist since I first reviewed his album Three for All back in 2010. I was impressed with his strong voicing and unusual, unpredictable harmonic approach to the music. He has a unique sound that is all his own and I found myself looking forward to his subsequent releases covering his Rigarmaroll in 2015 and Spotlight on Standards in 2016, both superb outings.

The Boston based musician came to note back in the early nineteen seventies, eventually holding the saxophone chair with Dave Brubeck’s quartet from 1979-1982, recording nine albums with this consequential pianist.

If someone can be labeled as a musician’s musician, then Bergonzi’s reputation, both in the industry and amongst his peers, is worthy of such an esteemed moniker. When Jerry Bergonzi ventures out of Boston to share his tenor magic, it is an event that most of the cognoscenti can’t resist to pass up. My astute colleague from the Chicago Tribune, Howard Reich, was dutifully impressed by Bergonzi’s rare performance in the Windy City back in 2019 and he noted that “…the saxophonist really ought to return to Chicago before another 40 years go by.”  No doubt his sentiment is shared countrywide.

The musician has followed his own path, cultivated a poignantly aggressive attack, and developed an uncompromising harmonic approach that is all his own. Bergonzi has dedicated a great deal of his last thirty-plus years educating, creating instructional guides that document his take on the art of improvisation. His work at the New England Conservatory of Music started in the nineteen-eighties, where he became a full professor and where he continues to teach. Working continuously in his Boston hometown as well as touring as a leader and a sideman, Bergonzi also teaches private lessons, and has run masterclasses at Berklee, Eastman, North Texas State University as well as institutions in Paris, Spain, Australia, Finland, and Sweden to name a few. Because he has maintained true to his own path, his influence amongst notable rising saxophonists is noteworthy.

Nearly Blue, is a compilation of songs that include seven iconic standards and three of the saxophonist's originals. His trio includes the intuitive bandmates, B3 organist Renato Chicco and his long term drummer Andrea Michelutti. 

“I just adore the melodies of these tunes.”  Bergonzi offered. He has an affinity to inject new and inventive approaches to these well-traveled compositions. His dynamic horn is like a shot of resuscitating oxygen providing a burst of welcomed vitality to these ageless but much-played standards.

The opening song, Rogers and Hammerstein “It Might As Well Be Spring,”  finds Chicco's  B3 moaning and throbbing organically as the drums precisely accent and maintain a swinging pace. Bergonzi’s muscular tenor punctuates the melody in his own inimitable way. The saxophonist never loses the essence of the material, always creating unpredictable paths through the structure of the composition. His sound is commanding and confident, whether he runs jagged, penetrating lines or develops rapid cascades of linked notes. His surprising ideas barrel from his horn like a torrent of liquid energy splashing against the jagged rocks of a cataract.

John Coltrane’s “Countdown,” is a normally a quick-paced standard that ascends and descends like an exercise up and down stairs. It is played here in a more medium tempo. The opening line is introduced by Chicco’s pulsing organ. Bergonzi’s tenor loosely navigates this song's direction, employing a slightly skewed direction, redefining the progression in slightly altered patterns. His tenor is confident but more jagged, the musical equivalent of Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker character choreographically descending and ascending the steep city alley steps in the movie. The motion is irregular, but purposeful, up and down at will and played with panache and bravado.

“How About You” has a boisterous hop to it and Bergonzi’s horn is fast, enthusiastic, filled with fusillades of notes. Maintaining the pace and feel of the melody, he takes you on a journey that transports you,  punctuated occasionally by high register leaps from his saxophone. Michelutti drives the piercing swing and Chicco offers an interesting Larry Young inspired organ solo. 

Bergonzi's original, the clarion “Tectonic Plates,” was originally played on his Three for All from 2010. Is this a powerful declaration of the saxophonist’s admiration for enormous changes in nature that often occur without our awareness?  In fact, the music mimics shifting plates in a song’s harmony and features some of the saxophonists' most probing and reverential playing. 

“Nearly Blue,” is the second original composition.  A sauntering quirky shuffle by Michelutti generates just enough of the blues essence to provide the trio with a familiar base on which to build Bergonzi’s expanding harmonic explorations. Swirling lines of notes and layered levels of musical ideas seem to erupt from this man’s horn at will. It is like traveling with a seasoned explorer on a quest. Chicco’s B3 solo is especially warm and swells with emotion and authority.

Kaper and Washington’s classic “On Green Dolphin Street” is played at a more robust pace. It is such a treat to hear this trio respond so splendidly to the leaders' turbocharged approach to this song. Bergonzi creates a vortex of notes enhancing the melody and re-imagining the feeling that you are familiar with from this song. Here the energy and enthusiasm of the trio erupt, magnetizing the listener. The transformation of this song is inspired, and like water to a parched traveler reaching a welcoming oasis in the desert, their creativity sustains and re-invigorates this treasure.

If you like a well-played, moving ballad, Cart T. Fischer’s “We’ll Be Together Again” is just a gem in the hands of this tenor titan. He plays the melody straight, but with a copious amount of feeling and style, embellishing the coda with an exciting cadenza.

The album  includes another Bergonzi's original “While You Were Out,” Gershwin’s playful “Nice Work if You Can Get It,” and an energized ballad “Laura,” with some sassy B3 work and some inspired saxophone improvisation. This is an extremely enjoyable album that is a must for any jazz fan who appreciates an inventive saxophonist and his trio at the top of their game.