Jerry is the Man. i dig his sound on that metal link a lot more than the HR link he plays now. It sounds great.

 

I agree...

 

I absolutely agree as well. There's a different timbre and intensity in Jerry's playing when he's on a metal Link. Personally, my favorite Gonz is the stuff he recorded with Brubeck back in the late 70's. His sound was simply incredible.

John

 

He has such a nice tone. I can't describe to anyone else...I think's it's very unique.

 

I disagree, actually; I prefer his sound on HR---I have been checking out Tenorist, I think it may be his newest recording. To me the HR piece sounds more controlled, and has more "mystery" to it. This recording is great, I love his playing on it--deep...

 

Yeah Jerry sounds great on all the clips from YouTube.

He sounds fantastic no matter the mouthpiece. The guy probably has over 100 mouthpieces or more anyways.

To my ears he's the best living tenor man we have right now. No one else seems to flow like him, he never seems to run out of ideas and his chops are crazy.

 

heath, you don't live in NC do you? Don't really know why but I think I may have met you down there.

Back to Bergonzi. The man is so amazing on many levels. I thank god for emusic as they seem to have a great deal of his stuff available for download there (and at around $.30 a track). Even the Brubeck stuff.

I have a tough time deciding who is the greates living tenor player. But he ranks way up there. I do remember the first time I heard him (Standard Gonz) and he was among one of the great many reasons I moved to Boston. He's such an amazing teachers too. And a wonderful human being. I can't say enough about the man and his music either. I also prefer his playing on metal. However, there is something about the hr brings a warmth to his sound too.

Mick Goodrick is killin' on those videos too (there's another one up there as well).

 

He is a great teacher. I studied with him for a couple of years. He would always play piano or drums in the lessons and sounded great on both. For me I prefer the metal all the way.

 

Naw Swamp Cabbage I live right outside of Kansas City. I wish I lived in Boston, I'd love to study with the Gonz as well.

For me he sounds pretty darn good on the metal mouthpiece. I still like that sound he gets on the rubber Link as well, it's a dark sound, but you can really hear him having to push hard.

For me his Lineage album has his best sound...I have no idea what he's playing on that album.

Honestly though guys who plays better than the Gonz these days? I'm racking my brain and I can't think of one guy that can touch him on the tenor.

 

Seeing this thread prompted me to dig out my copy of Brubeck's Paper Moon. Great playing all around!

 

Obviously a genius level player.
I had a brief conversation with M Brecker once while he signed CD at a club.
After my compliments and general fan worshop, he modestly said Bergonzi was the guy that he most highly regarded.

 

I suspect he is playing a metal Link on the Lineage album. there's a cracked note (about 1:17) on Inner Urge that has a metallic tinge to it.

 

I'm back. I had to watch it again!

 

If you like Papermoon check out Dave Santoro Standards Band. It's on itunes. Bergonzi playing standards.

 

I think he sounds way more centered and clear on the metal mpc. I too prefer his sound on the metal piece. I think he's wayyyy too dark on the HR link.

I don't think I've ever heard him play a stock or cliche lick. Totally original playing, yet he makes the most complex lines sound intuitive some way.

Thanks for sharing.

 

Jerry got his main hard rubber piece from me...it is an original 10* slant sig Otto Link.

He had been playing an 8 or 8*, and just fell in love with this piece instantly. He said the facing was so perfect on it that it wasnt a big deal to go from the smaller tip to the 10*. Thats a whopping .135 tip on that piece!


Of course some of you will like him better on metal and others will like him more on the hard rubber...lets face it, Jerry sounds AMAZING on every piece he plays! I was thrilled that I could make him happy with a great mouthpiece.

I talked with him 2 weeks ago and he says he just loves the piece still.

He's the BEST!

 

Agreed! He's a brilliant musician and a fantastic teacher in addition to being a great guy. I prefer his sound on HR but I've always prefered "dark with balls" as opposed to the compact metal sound. (Brecker being the exception).

As for players at his level, there's a few, but they aren't better - just different. George Garzone comes to mind, as does Chris Potter. As much as I want to be, I'm just not a big Liebman fan. Lovano's great but he's no Gonz.

Gonz told me years ago that he used to play in a group with Garzone and rhythm section called "Gargonz". I would absolutely love to hear what that sounded like. Unfortunately they didn't record.

If you want to hear GREAT Bergonzi, there's an LP called "Caught in the Act" on Not Fat Records. It's a live album Jerry did in Australia and he told me that was HIS favourite recording of himself. It has Moment's notice on one side (!) of the album and Arbonius Unt and Softly on the other side. Brilliant!

 

BTW. For those who may have a hard time getting a nold of his records, Emusic.com has a lot of his stuff (totally on the up and up) and it's about 25 cents a track. http://www.emusic.com/search.html?mode=x&QT=bergonzi

They've got Donny Mcasslin, Chris Potter, Dave Holland, and tones of the classics (a good portion of the OJC catalog too).

 

i make a very good advice on the tenorist cd of jerry.
http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7419525&BAB=M

the soud is amazing
no sound of keyworks of the saxophone

and something very full, very present , full of harmoniccs with that jerry sound.

the sound engineer has made a wonderful joB.

unfortunately,
i got issues on the playing of abercrombie and santoro on that recording.

just think to JB with JB (Jim BLACK), SN (Steeve NELSON) , and ER (Eric REVIS) !

that could be really great.

i also suggest you to hear to his cds with Joachim KUHN (duet) and with Daniel HUMAIR on drums... that were recorded more than 10 years!...

 

I just downloaded 3 of those Brubeck records from emusic.com and they are burnin'. Man, this guy should be packin' houses all over.

Sounds to me like an STM.

 

Naw Swamp Cabbage I live right outside of Kansas City. I wish I lived in Boston, I'd love to study with the Gonz as well.

For me he sounds pretty darn good on the metal mouthpiece. I still like that sound he gets on the rubber Link as well, it's a dark sound, but you can really hear him having to push hard.

For me his Lineage album has his best sound...I have no idea what he's playing on that album.

Honestly though guys who plays better than the Gonz these days? I'm racking my brain and I can't think of one guy that can touch him on the tenor.

I'm not into competition between giants or anything, but I think Garzone gives him a run for his money...

bigtiny

 

This is purely a matter of taste. Garzone and Bergonzi are both masters. I could listen to them both and be happy. In many ways they share simular styles.

 

What's really interesting is that they have similar styles but different approaches.

 

Watching them play together was always incredible. Top notch playing and alot of love and respect between Jerry and George. No animosity at all...just pure joy on stage.
I'd love to see "Gargonz" again.

2 real masters of the horn!

 

I met and got to hang out with Jerry on Tuesday at a sax camp. He is such an amazing guy and an amazing player. I thought one of the more interesting things he said was that he owns 2 10m's and he loves them!