Sunday, February 08, 2004

Records are rated on a scale of one (poor) to four (excellent) stars.

Jazz

GENE BERTONCINI: "Acoustic Romance." Sons of Sound.

If you've followed jazz long enough, by now you've discovered musicians who don't record for Blue Note, Verve or other major labels and whose names don't show up in critics' or listeners' polls, but who simply knock you out and make you want to hear them over and over again.

I hope for some of you that's happened with a guitarist named Gene Bertoncini, whose playing (on classical and nylon string here) is sublime and swinging, so much so that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that his melodicism, harmonic sophistication, delicate touch, gorgeous sound and overall taste and sensitivity remind you of his great fellow guitarist Jim Hall.

Trio mates Rufus Reid, bass, and Akira Tana, drums, are superb individually and play at the same level or even higher as a team. After all, they have been together for years as both sidemen and co-leaders of their own group.

The repertoire is a highly appealing mix of classic love songs, many from film and several by Henry Mancini.

There are a number of four-star performances, beginning with Johnny Mandel's "The Shadow of Your Smile" (from "The Sandpiper"), played at both slow and fast tempos and featuring Bertoncini's lush harmony and Reid's bowed bass. The trio surprises on Michel Legrand's "Theme from the Summer of '42" by interpolating that lovely melody with Legrand's "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" and playing it not only as a ballad but also as an energetic samba. Bertoncini's inventive intro and harmonic explorations inform Victor Young's "Stella by Starlight," as does Tana's solo with brushes on the swinging section.

Bertoncini comes up with a clever arranging idea on Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight," strumming 12 notes at the beginning and end (the clock striking midnight) and playing a chorus a cappella. Another marvelous Mancini melody, "Two for the Road," gets a Spanish flavor, and finally there's Bronislau Kaper's wonderful "Invitation." It has been played so often that it's almost essential that something different be done with it. Bertoncini accommodates that need, again turning to Brazil and the samba.

Don't know about Gene Bertoncini? Please check him out.

-- Bob Protzman

Classical

ANONYMOUS 4: "American Angels." Harmonia Mundi.

Anonymous 4 has ventured out of the Middle Ages with a journey to the roots of Anglo-American spiritual vocals. The collection comprises authentic 18th-century psalm settings and fugueing tunes from rural New England; 19th-century folk hymns and camp revival songs from the rural South; and gospel songs originating in Northeastern cities and adopted in the late 19th century by rural Southerners.

All of the tunes are taken from hymnals or tunebooks published between 90 and 170 years ago. Source information for each song is detailed in the liner notes. For example, both the tune and text of the popular "Shall We Gather at the River" are attributed to a Robert Lowry, published in his 1865 tunebook "Happy Voices." Most of the melodies are rooted in folk-like modality, resulting in hauntingly open and hollow harmonies -- a texture not lost by Anonymous 4's transplanting the tenor and bass parts into their octaves.

Anonymous 4's straight, vibrato-less tone transfers fluidly from medieval to American folk style, and, as usual, their blend and intonation is flawless. The pervasive folk idiom may be too one-dimensional for the average listener, but musicologists, hymnodists and fans of shape-note singing will find this collection erudite and entertaining.

-- Eric Haines

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