Frank Vignola’s Guitar Night
Wednesdays at Manhattan’s Birdland

In the world of jazz and jazz-influenced popular music, guitar players have one major thing in common with male singers: The overwhelming majority of both seem to be either Italian American or African American. In fact, it takes a moment to even think of a great guitarist — or a crooner — who isn’t Black or Italian.

Most of us first heard Frank Vignola during his 20-year tenure playing in support of a groundbreaking guitarist, inventor, and cultural icon, Les Paul. Since November 2021, he has been hosting “Guitar Night” at Birdland, a Wednesday evening series in which he works with a rhythm section — currently pianist Ted Rosenthal, bassist Gary Mazzaroppi, and drummer Alex Raderman — and plays host to a rotating cast of guest guitarists, as well as other musicians and singers.

This week, he celebrated the 88th birthday of a remarkable, Bronx-born virtuoso, Gene Bertoncini, and to help commemorate the occasion Mr. Vignola fêted Mr. Bertoncini with the help of two additional guitarists, John Pizzarelli and Pasquale Grasso. The latter might be considered the exception to the general rule, as he’s not Italian American but Italian Italian, having been born and raised at Campania, Italy, making him the only guitarist on the bill not from the New York/New Jersey general area.

Messrs. Vignola, Pizzarelli, and Grasso started with an uptempo “Tangerine.” Then, Mr. Pizzarelli took the lead and sang on a romping “They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” followed by an even faster “Sweet Georgia Brown” and a ballad-speed “These Foolish Things.” For his solo, Mr. Grasso gave us a lovely, lyrical, and unaccompanied reading of a deep cut from the Tony Bennett songbook, “So Beats My Heart For You.”

In addition to ethnicity and geography, these guitarists have other things in common. They all share an almost genetic gift for harmony, melody, and rhythm, as well as a preternatural sense of self-deprecating humor. 

When the man of the hour took the stage, his first order of business was to deflate a common stereotype regarding Italo-Americans. Mr. Bertoncini recounted how he and Mr. Pizzarelli’s father, the late and legendary Bucky Pizzarelli, would play together as a team, and they typically started sets by announcing to the audience in a mock-threatening, offer-you-can’t-refuse kind of a tone: “We’re the Pizzarelli-Bertoncini Duo — and youse better like us!”  

John Pizzarelli responded by confronting a different ethnic stereotype: that when he and his father would play gigs together, the latter would declare, “We’re the Pizzarelli Brothers — we do driveways.”

Mr. Bertoncini called the tune on “If I Had You.” His solo wasn’t the flashiest but it was the most satisfying, showing his understanding of classical music and his architecturally influenced sense of structure.  In deference to Mr. Bertoncini, Mr. Rosenthal worked a highly reharmonized “Happy Birthday to You” into his solo here, and the next tune, “Route 66,” had Mr. Bertoncini quoting the habanera from “Carmen” and Mr. Pasquale doing the same for “Humoresque.”  

The septet, as it were, then played another ballad, this time with the fine singer Melissa Stylaniou, best known as a member of the Duchess trio and for her work with Mr. Bertoncini. Her “East of the Sun” started essentially as a duo with her “favorite guitar player,” before the other three guitarists and the rhythm section joined in at the halfway point of the first chorus.

They ended — much too soon — with a rouser from the Duke Ellington canon, “Perdido,” launched with a scat intro by Ms. Styliano as the four guitars and three rhythm musicians gathered behind her. This last number was highlighted by a pair of duets, first Messrs. Bertoncini and Vignola doing traditional four-bar phrases, then Messrs. Pizzarelli and Grasso doing the same. Ms. Styliano also enjoyed a chorus of back-and-forth with the celebrant. It was a suitable conclusion, but we all could have done with at least another hour or two of playing.

For those who can’t get enough of Gene Bertoncini, he’s hosting a further celebration at Mezzrow on April 6. Meanwhile, Frank Vignola Guitar Night returns April 2 with Mike Stern, one of the more celebrated guitarists to work with Miles Davis. 

About two tunes into Mr. Bertoncini’s portion of the evening, the host turned to him and said, “Gene, you’re still swinging at 88!” The sold-out house immediately roared in excitement and agreement, not for the first time that night, and not for the last.