Tenorist

Jerry Bergonzi | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 22, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Savant
• ASIN: B000P46QAE
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #188,091 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Though he’s recorded about 30 small-label albums as a leader and dozens of others in support of artists as varied as Dave Brubeck and Eartha Kitt, Jerry Bergonzi is still a best-kept secret. Tenorist is good enough to change that. Everything that sets him apart is on display here. A classicist in modernist drag--or is it the other way around?--he can go with a big, muscular sound marked by thick fluttery effects, or go small and agile to slip into the nooks and crannies of a Thelonious Monk song. Like Sonny Rollins, Bergonzi is great at stalking a melody, spilling ideas, but he also thrives on jumpy rhythmic schemes. Leading a stalwart band of longtime collaborators including guitarist John Abercrombie (who's in the midst of another career surge), bassist Dave Santoro, and drummer Adam Nussbaum, Bergonzi is in fine, restless form, continuallly shifting tone and attack to get inside the material. He does so with a lack of self-consciousness some of the young notables he taught at the New England Conservatory still could learn from. --Lloyd Sachs

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lennie Tristano meets John Coltrane, July 26, 2008

By 

Avid (Chicago IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tenorist (Audio CD)

What a great player. To my ear, Bergonzi combines the disciplined cool of the Tristano school with the chops and spirit of late middle period John Coltrane. The quartet sounds just fine, pianoless, with a solid, but unobtrusive rhythm section. Abercombie provides excellent and empathic comping, interplay and solo work. Bergonzi plays a lot on this CD. Both in terms of solo time, and in terms of the depth and breadth of his playing. I knew his name - as a session man, I guess - but never really knew his playing until I heard this. On this CD I hear a real master at work. If you love contemporary tenor playing this is a great find.

5.0 out of 5 stars superb, January 30, 2010

By 

Curious Skeptic (New York CIty) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tenorist (Audio CD)

I am a relatively new convert to Bergonzi. Saw him a few times, many years ago with Brubeck. I was impressed then but kind of filed him away as an interesting player that I didn't come across again. I don't recall how I first heard this CD, but I liked it and picked it up. I play my music on random, and each time this disc came up, it drew my attention. The playing is intricate and sensitive. Very rich; very intelligent. Bergonzi is obviously an architect of the excellent solo. But there is no waiting; he gets right down to it. I am deeply impressed. Unfortunately, its rare to come across musicianship this accomplished and this subtle. My only wish is that he (Bergonzi) would play with a guitarist more frequently. What I've heard of his other recent CDs, is equally impressive, including the excellent "Three for all," but the addition of the guitar on this CD adds just a bit more. Of course it may be Abercrombie, who is in a class by himself, but there are other fine guitarists out there who could do the job.