January 2015 Meeting: Gene Bertoncini


Ear training and fingerboard knowledge

Ear training using single line, and harmonic fingerboard knowledge; a primer for song performances and improvisation using classical techniques.

The presentation will be followed by open-mic playing time for members. Sign up in advance to play — see the Member Events page for details. NYCCGS Member Events are free and open to all members and first-time guests, and are supported by a generous grant from the D’Addario Music Foundation.


Thursday, January 8, 2015, 7:00 PM

Manhattan Theatre Club Creative Center
311 West 43rd Street, 8th floor, between 8th and 9th Ave. (map)
New York City

Gene Bertoncini is one of the preeminent jazz guitarists active today. His fluid technique and lyricism have won him international praise and 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 such distinguished singers as Tony Bennett, Len Horne, Nancy Wilson, Vic Damone, and Edye Gorme.

The Washington Post proclaimed his solo appearance in New York City the best jazz concert of the year (1999). Mr. Bertoncini’s acclaim is hardly confined to this country. His CD Someone to Light up My Life, his own arrangements of the compositions of the great bossa nova composer Antonio Carlos Jobim, won international raves, including recognition in Brazilian critics and listeners polls, which also named him the best acoustic jazz guitarist. His releases include a striking CD, Body and Soul, and his Acoustic Romance reached the top ten of the jazz playlists. Jazziz magazine’s March, 2004, issue named it number one of the top twenty acoustic guitar CDs.

A prolific and popular studio musician, Mr. Bertoncini performed on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and has worked with composers and arrangers such as Lalo Schifrin and Michael Le Grand, and performed with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He has performed in many jazz festivals in London and Ireland, as well as on the Queen Elizabeth 2. He has lectured at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

He was honored with a special concert, A Tribute to Gene Bertoncini, in 2008 by the New York City Classical Guitar Society.

In addition to an active performing and recording schedule, Mr. Bertoncini teaches at the Eastman School of Music and William Paterson University. A New York City native, he graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in architecture.