I'd be remiss if I were to write about Gene Bertoncini, as I did yesterday, without doing the same about Charlie Byrd, who, as the popularizer of finger-style jazz guitar, was an influence on Bertoncini, and virtually every other jazz guitarist. He was an influence on all of jazz, in fact, because of his work in bringing Brazilian music and the Bossa Nova style into its current mainstream status. Byrd's 1962 collaboration with the saxophone giant, Stan Getz, Jazz Samba, remains a cornerstone in the field, and a must-hear for every jazz fan. Here's a link to the opening track, "Desafinado", which features tremendous solo work, by both Byrd and Getz, that proved that Bossa Nova could provide a framework for a jazz musician's abilities that would be every bit as solid and challenging as those found in standards: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGfiAzPiYG4). This cut was a pop hit at the time, by the way, reaching #15 on the Billboard charts. Those were the days.

One of the great things about going to music school is the number of events, such as concerts and workshops, that one has the opportunity to attend. One such occasion for me was a very memorable workshop with the great American jazz/classical guitarist, Gene Bertoncini. On that day, he captivated the audience with his virtuosity, his humour, and his generosity in sharing his approach and musical concept (I remember several of the top guitarists at school carefully taking notes). And I should clarify the term (jazz/classical) used above: What I mean is that, essentially, Bertoncini is a jazz player, but one who plays it on a classical guitar using classical technique. But a picture's worth a thousand words, and a video some exponent of that, so here's a link to a performance of "The Shadow of Your Smile" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCss_FtMWDQ), and here's another to his website (http://www.genebertoncini.com/). He's got nineteen other videos on his YouTube channel, many of which contain insights on his work that would be helpful to listeners, and other guitarists, of course.