SUBDUED AND ELEGANT: Gene Bertoncini & Michael Moore's Close Ties

The plucking of guitar strings and the bowing of a bass—what kind of music would that make? It makes very smooth music indeed, in the case of Close Ties, a collaborative effort between guitarist Gene Bertoncini and bassist Michael Moore. What they play is jazz, but it is a subdued, elegant sort of jazz that frequently makes excursions across the border into classical terrain and back again.

Gene thinks of the guitar as a keyboard instrument where the left and right hands function independently almost as they do at a piano. He has been coaxing jazz out of guitars since his days as an architecture student at Notre Dame back in the '50s. He plays primarily a classical guitar with nylon strings, relying on the microphone for amplification, and occasionally an amplified guitar.

The instrument that Gene Bertoncini plays can trace its ancestry back all the way to Babylon and Egypt. Words similar to guitar can be found in the medieval literature of Europe. The instruments of the 16th and 17th centuries were smaller than the ones we know today; it was in Italy during the 17th century that the guitar became a five- stringed instrument, acquiring its sixth string around 1780.

Bertoncini's instrument has six strings. The guitar was out of fashion for a while until Segovia made it world famous as a classical instrument in our time and induced some of the greatest composers of the 20th century to write for it. As you can hear on this release, when it is controlled by the right fingers it can also be an ideal medium (as Charlie Byrd discovered) for interpreting jazz. And what of the bass? The double bass has been around since the 15th century. Its job from about 1600 has been to supply the lowest sounds to be heard in polyphonic compositions. Under the ministrations of a player like Michael Moore it becomes the medium for supplying the melody while Bertoncini strums the guitar in improvisatory elaborations.

Here's what Bertoncini says of his partner's role as bassist in their collaborations: ‘‘Michael...is one of the finest jazz musicians alive on any instrument. And he’s a wonderful accompanist. He has a superb sense of what to play behind you. His timing is impeccable, magnificent. And as for his bowing, I think he is the finest arco player in the field. This makes it possible for me to accompany him in turn. He adds: “Michael has this constant concern for melody, swing, and space.” The same sort of praise has been accorded Bertoncini’s guitar playing.

Ravel's Pavane was once America’s most popular ballads when it was supplied with words under the title The Lamp Is Low.

Gene and Michael manage to capture both the classical and popular elements of the piece in a subtle synthesis. They play Lush Life and Isfaban by Billy Strayhom and Duke Ellington in dreamy arrangements that probably would have captivated both composers. They turn to Johann Sebastian Bach for a Siciliano, to Gershwin for his ruminative Prelude no. 2 (usually played by a concert pianist), then back to Ellington for the moodiest of Mood Indigo treatments. For a finale they perform the poignant Rachmaninoff Vocalise, with its haunting melody.

Listen to Michael Moore and Gene Bertoncini perform "Vocalise" by Rachmaninoff, arranged by Gene Bertoncini.

This is the second album these two have created together, and it is not quite like anything else that has been recorded. It you're in the mood for a quiet but altogether musically sound program on the narrow border between the popular classics and classically popular compositions, you will no doubt want to add this release to your collection.