jackie in the los angeles times

Without Missing a Beat
Session great Jackie Bertone
August 19, 2012
RUSS LOAR | SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
Jackie Bertone pushes the track selector button on his compact disc player, finding the song on which he plays a riff
on the castanets. He uses the music to illustrate his point about the simple yet essential nature of percussion. The CD
is "Stars and Stripes, Vol. 1," a compilation of top country singers performing Beach Boys songs. The song is "Don't
Worry Baby," sung by Lorrie Morgan. The sparse ripple of his castanets gives the song a signature sound, much like
the sound of castanets on the early '60s hit, "Be My Baby," by the Ronnettes.
Bertone also created what's called a shaker track on the recording. It is a soft, percussive sound that comes from the
repeated movement of two 7-inch-long cylinders filled with sand. The sound of the sand slapping back and forth
against the inside of the cylinder walls continues throughout the entire song in an exact, unerring rhythm.
To play without flaw is just the beginning. The reason the 52-year-old, self-taught percussionist earns about $500 an
hour for his recording work is because he finds what musicians call "the pocket," creating a rhythmic groove for the
music. He is not on the front or the back edge of the beat, he is locked into the comfortable center, giving a rhythmic
stability to the entire tune.
"The smattering of castanets is the nuance of the music, the flavoring. The shaker track is the glue that joins all the
various rhythms of the tune together," said Bertone, who lives in Winchester, CA and records in his own Pro Tools®
tracking studio. "The majority of music listeners out there probably don't realize that there's actually a shaker track
on every popular song that has a groove."
Bertone owns about 50 different kinds of shakers alone, many of his own creation. Like other top percussionists,
such as his mentor Paulinho Da Costa, Bertone's artistic goal is to create an original style of sound.
"Record producers hire you because of your unique sound. I do have a certain sound." states Bertone as we sit in his
home studio with walls lined with multi-platinum awards and an array of percussion instruments.
His mother gave him a pair of bongo drums when he was 9, to redirect his constant tapping on the furniture and
other assorted household items. He taught himself how to play by copying the percussion solos on his parents'
records.
"My mother was Armenian, my father was Italian, but we grew up listening to Latin music, to people like Tito
Puente, Celia Cruz and various others. Something that always had the salsa, mambo or cha-cha rhythm to it. I can't
tell you how many records I ruined by moving the needle back, over and over again."
By the time he was 19, he'd managed to meet Emilio Castillo, the leader of the band Tower of Power, through
contacts he'd made by sitting in with the jazz group Seawind at the White House in Laguna Beach. He convinced
Castillo to let him sit in with the band during a performance at the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach.
"Emilio had me wait backstage in this room and said he'd get back to me. I was going nuts in there. There was this
bowl of fruit in there and I ate the whole thing, just out of nervousness. He finally came back and said, 'OK kid,
you're on. You're going to be on for two songs: "Can't You See," and "Squib Cakes." If you can't cut "Can't You
See," don't hang for "Squib Cakes."
"They didn't announce me. They had my congas up on the edge of the stage with a microphone in less than five
minutes. They asked me to start the song, which opened with a syncopated funk kind of conga rhythm. We played
that song, and Emilio looked back at me and smiled and nodded his head. We played 'Squib Cakes,' one of the
greatest instrumentals ever, and we all soloed. They gave me a 12-bar solo and I nailed it. Afterward, you couldn't
talk to me. I was floating. Right then was when I said to myself: This is what I was meant to do. This is going to
happen."
Bertone continued to study his instrument and sit in with a select group of musicians and bands. And though he now
has about a decade of recording and performing experience with some of the most recognizable names in popular
music,
Bertone is currently finishing up the recording of percussion tracks for the Grammy® Award winning and nominated
elite in the music industry.
"I'm a colorist, that's what I'm hired for. I like the little nuances and ethereal sounds of things like finger cymbals,
wind sounds I can make blowing through little instruments.
Jackie has been blessed over the years with equipment endorsements from the music industries leading percussion
companies such as LP Music Group (lpmusic.com), Vater Percussion (vaterpercussion.com) and Sabian Cymbals
(sabian.com) to name but a few.
For EVERYTHING Jackie Bertone, please visit his website www.jackiebertone.com
Peace Through Music™