The Harmonic Sorcery of Jerry Bergonzi's "Spotlight on Standards":

Jerry Bergonzi Spotlight on Standards SCD 2158

The Boston based tenor magician Jerry Bergonzi returns to the organ/tenor/drums format to spin his harmonic sorcery on his latest offering titled Spotlight on Standards. The saxophonist/educator known as the Gonz, while lauded by the insular community of his peers, is not a household name among the general public. He is known for his muscular, hard edged sound, his exquisite fiery technique and his boundless creativity.

Jerry Bergonzi grew up in Boston and started on clarinet at age eight. He credits a musical uncle who used to live upstairs from him with turning him onto jazz early. In youth bands  he learned from  two of the best instructors, John Laporta and Joe Viola and eventually studied  music education at University of Mass in Lowell, MA.  Bergonzi spent several years in New York developing his sound, jamming and shedding with other notable musicians of his era before getting a call from pianist Dave Brubeck. With Brubeck, Bergonzi traveled and played some of the largest and most prestigious festivals and venues in the world. It was a liberating experience and a steady paycheck. The first recording on his discography is from 1973 on Brubeck’s Two Generations of Brubeck. The now sixty-eight-year-old Bergonzi was the saxophonist with Brubeck’s Quartet from 1973-1975 and then again from 1979 to 1982. By the early eighties Bergonzi was back in Boston and began his teaching career, first with private instruction, then publishing books on improvisation and eventually becoming a full time professor at The New England Conservatory of Music where he teaches to this day. Over the years Bergonzi has written upward of one hundred songs and played as a leader or sideman on over thirty records.

On his latest, Spotlight on Standards, Bergonzi is joined by organist Renato Chicco and drummer Andrea Michelutti. This organ trio format is one the saxophonist last used with organist Dan Wall and drummer Adam Nussbaum back in 1999.

From the opening lines of the Cy Coleman classic “Witchcraft” you can hear Bergonzi’s muscular tenor is not about to play this or anything else straight up. It is his resolute willingness to re-harmonize the theme in his own unique way that makes the music so much more than a re-hash of an old standard. This is a re-imagining of the song where the melody is a mere armature upon which to reconstruct something fresh and new. Coupled with his signature saxophone sound the song takes on a new life.

The next four tunes are all Bergonzi originals. His distinctive technique uses creative articulation, a fluidity of thoughts and innovative dynamics to achieve that most precious of commodities- originality. Listen to the elastic logic of his saxophone on his composition “Bi-Polar.”  The notes gush like a wellspring of exploratory thought from a savant’s mind.  On “Blue Cube” he creates a memorable repeating motif. Chicco and Michelutti sustain the easy shuffle over which Bergonzi offers a series of deliberate, sometimes searing lines. He often takes no easily readable path, but nonetheless he lead you to his intended destination. Chicco’s B3 soloing is subtly but equally probing.

“First Lady” is an interesting composition with an uplifting, almost Bossa feel. Bergonzi’s use of the lower register of his instrument never fails to swing. He drifts over the changes with an airy lightness and solid conviction. Michelutti is a master of interjecting timely accents while maintaining a rock-steady rhythm.

Bergonzi’s mournful “Gabriella” is perhaps his most sensitive ballad on this album. The plaintive tenor sound is quite compelling throughout, offering a window into the deepest recesses of the artist’s soul.  It is a wistful cry that cannot be ignored. Chicco’s deft church-like organ brings a pious, religious quality to the whole proceeding. Bergonzi’s command of his instrument, using it as an extension of the human voice,  is extraordinary.

The program returns to the American Songbook with “Dancing in the Dark,” and “Out of Nowhere.” At all times the group displays a solid swing and a masterful ability to create surprising iterations of the melody.  On Johnny Mercer’s “Come Rain or Come Shine” we find Bergonzi’s at his best. His punchy sound articulates with authority as the rhythm section grooves along. He seems to draw from an inexhaustible well of ideas that never seem to repeat and never fail to surprise.

Ned Washington and Victor Young’s venerable standard “Stella by Starlight” is treated with authority and conviction when Bergonzi and company re-imagine this classic. The solid swing, the aggressive declaration of Bergonzi’s saxophone with his  rapid fire lines and Chicco’s unusual B3 musings that seem to directly descend from Larry Young, make this one special. It’s almost an entirely new song. Bergonzi’s solo is overflowing, bursting with ideas, Chicco’s playing is stellar and Michelutti is so subtly correct as to be transcendent.

Here is a link to hear "Witchraft" from Spotlight on Standards

https://soundcloud.com/highnote-savant-records/01-witchcraft-jerry-bergonzi

Beantown's Secret :Jerry Begonzi’s "Three for All"

Jerry Bergonzi's Three for All (Savant SCD2105)

Jerry Bergonzi has been plying his trade as an extraordinarily gifted saxophonist for many years. As a member of Boston’s jazz inner circle, he is well known as both an educator and a technically superb player. He has also made his mark as a formidable composer, and yet his name is curiously unheralded in the mainstream press or by the general public.

This, despite a series of tours as the saxophonist in Dave Brubeck"s “Two Generations of Brubeck” from 1973-1975, as well as the reincarnation of the Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1979-1981, where Jerry took the role of the late Paul Desmond and made it his own.

Along the way he had notable collaborations with such luminaries as John Abercrombie, Dan Wall, Adam Nussbaum, Mick Goodrick, George Garzone and others too numerous to mention.

On this his most recent release, he is joined by long time associates Dave Santoro on bass and Adrea Michelutti on drums thus the title
Three for All.

The album starts with the twisting, circuitous playing of Bergonzi on “Crop Circles”. Overdubbing himself on both tenor and soprano, Bergonzi proves he has a marvelous affinity for multiple ideas on the same theme which he weaves together in a seamless array of notes that simply flow beautifully together. He uses this overdub technique on several tunes on this album to great effect.

On “Obama”, Bergonzi plays in a slyly cool and almost aloof way during the repeating melody line. Sonny Rollins comes to mind here. Confident, collected and coolly in command is the message. With bursts of creative energy released in measured spurts, Bergonzi may be intimating that hidden under the cool exterior there is an incendiary inner core that quietly burns.

The fatalistic tone of the “End of the Mayan Calender” is the perfect aural representation of the forlorn coming of the end of days. Here Bergonzi’s horn cries in a sustained moan that is not so much fearful as it is more resigned to the inevitable. I am struck by the sheer originality of his statements. He never repeats pat phrases or approaches themes from the same direction. His playing is always surprising as it simmers with an intensity that rarely utilizes overstated screeches or scalar runs of too many notes to make his point.

“Between the Lines”is another dual voiced piece that allows Jerry to play off of his own alter ego during the opening statement. Bergonzi enjoys using the soprano as a harmonizing instrument to his tenor,but it is the tenor that he uses for real communication. He seems to be talking to you more than playing for you. His sound is both melodic and conversational.

“Demolian Mode” features Santoro walking his bass in a seemingly patternless manner, while Michelutti prods the accents from his drum kit, barely keeping time. Bergonzi probes the modal piece on tenor in a wandering, restless way.

“Bluebonics” finds Bergonzi utilizing his skills on piano, soprano and tenor,with the effect giving us a glimpse into Bergonzi as the composer. His use of the harmonizing sounds of soprano and tenor is once again employed to create a layered, multi-tonal effect with the comping piano adding a percussive element.He modulates his tone in a very controlled manner and produces a sound that glows with the warmth of a fanned piece of hot charcoal.

On “FDIH” and especially “Horus" I am haunted by the similarity to Michael Brecker’s delivery. Bergonzi is in no way imitative of Brecker, but seems to be channeling him on this number. There is a great deal of that impatient, impassioned playing here, more so than on any other tune on the album. It is good to hear that spirit again. I was a big fan of Michael Brecker and his sound is sorely missed. Bergonzi is a player of equal excitement if not notoriety. Santoro's bass is particularly emotive on this song.

On the opening of “Tectonic” Begonzi’s uplifting soprano is featured again in tandem with his own tenor and his own overdubbed comping piano. When his tenor takes over he delivers a sensitive and powerful series of unique statements that seem to offer a tip of the hat to the late Joe Henderson.

With comparisons to Rollins, Brecker and Henderson one might get the impression that Jerry Bergonzi is just another imitator, but that would be woefully incorrect. Bergonzi has his own distinctive sound; one that should be appreciated on its own merits. He has distilled the best of these artists into his music through his virtuosity and compositional artistry.

Musicians: Jerry Bergonzi ( tenor and soprano saxophones, piano) ;Dave Santoro (acoustic bass); Andrea Michelutti (drums).

Recorded: PBS Studios, Westwood, MA December 2008
All compositions by Jerry Begonzi