Musician Guides/Current Calendar Ranking

Verified Global Musician

Jerry Bergonzi

Jerry Bergonzi is a tenor saxophonist, composer, bandleader, author, and educator whose leader catalog and Inside Improvisation series connect playing and pedagogy.

Tenor saxophoneComposerBandleaderEducator4 current shows

Photo source · Photo: Antonio Porcar, via Jerry Bergonzi

Career Overview

About Jerry Bergonzi

New England Conservatory identifies Bergonzi as a saxophonist, composer, clinician, and author with more than sixty recordings. Its faculty biography highlights Standard Gonz with his quartet and documents decades of private and conservatory teaching.[1]

Bergonzi's official discography separates a long leader sequence from recordings with Dave Brubeck, Joey Calderazzo, Hal Galper, Andy LaVerne, and other collaborators. The same artist site presents the organ-trio album Nearly Blue alongside his instructional catalog.[2][3]

Ensembles and Career Threads

Bands & Projects

Leader, tenor saxophonist, and composer

Jerry Bergonzi leader ensembles

The official discography follows Bergonzi's quartet, trio, and organ-trio recordings across multiple labels and decades.[2]

Author and educator

Inside Improvisation

NEC documents the seven-volume method series and its focus on melodic structures, pentatonics, line, rhythm, intervals, language, and hexatonics.[1][3]

Founder and recording artist

Not Fat Records

The conservatory biography identifies Bergonzi as founder of Not Fat Records within a catalog that also spans Blue Note, Savant, SteepleChase, and other labels.[1][2]

Selected, Not Exhaustive

Recordings to Know

1991 · Blue Note Records

Standard Gonz

Quartet leader and tenor saxophonist

NEC singles out Standard Gonz in Bergonzi's extensive discography, and his official catalog places it in the 1991 leader sequence.[1][2]

Release details

2019 · Savant Records

The Seven Rays

Leader and tenor saxophonist

The Seven Rays is a late-period Savant leader date listed in Bergonzi's artist-maintained chronology.[2]

Release details

2020 · Savant Records

Nearly Blue

Organ-trio leader and tenor saxophonist

Nearly Blue places Bergonzi with organist Renato Chicco and drummer Andrea Michelutti in a standards-and-originals trio program.[2]

Release details

Artist-Authorized Destinations

Start Listening

Official discography

Browse Bergonzi's leader and collaborator chronology and begin with the featured organ-trio recording Nearly Blue.

Official SoundCloud

Hear performances and instructional examples published through Bergonzi's official audio account.

Live Calendar

Upcoming Jazz DateBook Shows

Mon, Aug 31, 8:30 PM

Jerry Bergonzi Quartet

The Lilypad · Cambridge

Show details

Mon, Sep 7, 8:30 PM

Jerry Bergonzi Quartet

The Lilypad · Cambridge

Show details

Mon, Sep 14, 8:30 PM

Jerry Bergonzi Quartet

The Lilypad · Cambridge

Show details

Mon, Sep 21, 8:30 PM

Jerry Bergonzi Quartet

The Lilypad · Cambridge

Show details

Sources

Career copy is original synthesis from the artist, label, and project sources below. Current dates come from Jazz DateBook event inventory.

  1. [1] Faculty biography and teaching catalog

    New England Conservatory

  2. [2] Official leader and collaborator discography

    Jerry Bergonzi

  3. [3] Official instructional publications guide

    Jerry Bergonzi