Manny About Town
Randy Bernsen: Come Fly With Me

By Manny Meland

	Randy Bernsen and Manny Meland

Randy Bernsen is both a guitarist and a Lear jet pilot. On Friday, October 26, his trio launched a musical program at radio station WLRN. Soaring with him was Miami’s Javier Carrion on bass and Mark Griffith on drums. It was another in a series of great programs offered by the station’s South Florida Arts Beat. 

This exciting guitarist’s driving sound was honed in South Florida. His roots actually go back to the late 60s and the 70s when he was part of Blood Sweat & Tears. Although boomer musicians at that time were into rock, many were happy to borrow and adapt the techniques of jazz. An example of this is the Blood Sweat & Tears’ big hit in 1969 called “God Bless the Child.” Randy later played with the Zawinul Project. You may remember keyboardist and jazz icon Joe Zawinul who composed that great jazz standard “Birdland.” Zawinul and sax man Wayne Shorter co-led Weather Report, the group that recorded “Birdland.”

	Javier Carrion on bass, Randy Bernsen on guitar and Mark Griffith on drums, at a performance at the WLRN studio in Miami

Bernsen has played to audiences all over America, Europe, Japan and Southeast Asia. This December, he will fly his plane to a performance in Italy. Randy Bernsen, the Lear jet pilot, has had his pilot’s license for the past seven years. Next February, he plans a return engagement to the St. Miguel Jazz Festival in St. Miguel de Allende, Mexico. He has many enthusiastic fans there among the large American expatriate colony. This old silver mining town has some grand stone buildings with vaulted ceilings that survive their prosperous past. The concerts that are performed there enjoy incredible acoustics.

The opening tune this afternoon, “Road Song,” is one that Bernsen is planning to record in the near future.  It was especially interesting for me as I have Ned Otter’s album Powder Keg that features “Road Song.” Ned recorded it in 2003. His version featured a sax with piano, bass and drum compared to Randy’s guitar, bass and drums. Both renditions have a different feel but they both rock.

	Javier Carrion and Manny

Randy’s electric guitar amplifier set-up had a type of synthesizer on the floor that contained several levers which he controlled with his foot  This enabled him to achieve amazing sound effects. Then, to further our listening experience, he played “Mana” on an amplified acoustic guitar. Returning to the electric guitar, he played “Calling Me Back Home,” from his critically acclaimed studio recording.  As a matter of fact, the first three projects he recorded for MCA Records have placed him as a top jazz guitarist, composer and producer. He closed this most enjoyable afternoon with “Around Midnight.”