Departures of note

Gene J. Bertoncini was born in New York City on April 6, 1937, into a musical family. He began playing guitar at age seven and was appearing on television by sixteen. After earning a degree in architectural engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 1959, he served in the Marines and then immersed himself in the Chicago jazz scene before returning to New York, where he worked with Mike Mainieri, Buddy Rich, and the Tonight Show band.

Bertoncini was notable in the jazz guitar world for championing the nylon-string classical guitar in jazz and Latin music, following in the tradition of Charlie Byrd. He performed and recorded with a wide range of leading artists, including Burt Bacharach, Tony Bennett, Paul Desmond, Benny Goodman, Lena Horne, Hubert Laws, Michel Legrand, Wayne Shorter, Clark Terry, and Nancy Wilson, and recorded extensively as a leader and sideman.

He also taught at William Paterson University, New York University, the Eastman School of Music, the New England Conservatory, and the Banff School of Fine Arts, and was on the staff of the Tritone Jazz Fantasy Camps. From 1990 to 2008 he played solo guitar at the Bistro La Madeleine in New York City and released several albums of solo guitar arrangements. Bertoncini died on August 29, 2026, at the age of 89.