Gary Burton
| Gary Burton | |
|---|---|
 Photo by Tom Beetz |
|
| Background information | |
| Born | January 23, 1943 Anderson, Indiana United States |
| Genres | Jazz, Jazz Fusion |
| Occupations | Musician, Composer Educator |
| Instruments | Vibraphone, Marimba |
| Years active | since 1960 |
| Labels | ECM, Concord Records, Mack Avenue Records |
| Associated acts | Stan Getz Chick Corea Pat Metheny |
| Website | www.garyburton.com |
| Notable instruments | |
| Musser M-48 Vibraphone | |
Gary Burton (born January 23, 1943, Anderson, Indiana) is an American jazz vibraphonist.
A true original on the vibraphone, Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the usual two-mallets. This approach caused Burton to be heralded as an innovator and his sound and technique are widely imitated. He is also known for pioneering fusion jazz and popularizing the duet format in jazz, as well as being a major figure in jazz education.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Beginning music at six years old, Burton for the most part taught himself to play marimba and vibraphone.[1] He also began studying piano at age sixteen as he finished high school in Princeton, Indiana (56-60). Burton has cited jazz pianist Bill Evans as a main inspiration for his approach toward the vibraphone.
Burton attended Berklee College of Music in Boston[1] in 1960-61. He studied with Herb Pomeroy and soon befriended the composer and arranger Michael Gibbs. After establishing his career during the 1960s, he returned to join the staff of Berklee from 1971–2004, serving first as Professor, then Dean and finally as Executive Vice President during his last decade at the college.
Early in his career, at the behest of noted Nashville saxophonist Boots Randolph,[1] Burton moved to Nashville and recorded with several notable Nashville musicians including guitarist Hank Garland, pianist Floyd Cramer and guitarist Chet Atkins.
After touring both the U.S. and Japan with pianist George Shearing[2] in 1963, Burton went on to play with saxophonist Stan Getz from 1964-1966. It was during this time with the Stan Getz Quartet that Burton appeared with the band in a feature film, "Get Yourself a College Girl", playing "Girl From Ipanema" with Astrud Gilberto. In 1967 he formed the Gary Burton Quartet along with guitarist Larry Coryell, drummer Roy Haynes, and bassist Steve Swallow. Predating the jazz-rock fusion[2] craze of the 1970s, the group's first record, Duster, combined jazz, country and rock and roll elements. However, some of Burton's previous albums (notably Tennessee Firebird and Time Machine, both from 1966) had already shown his inclination toward such experimentation with different genres of popular music. After Coryell left the quartet in the late-1960s, Burton hired a number of well-regarded guitarists: Jerry Hahn, David Pritchard, Mick Goodrick, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and most recently Julian Lage, who played guitar in Burton's group Next Generation.
Burton was named Down Beat magazine's 'Jazzman of the Year' in 1968 (the youngest ever to receive the title) and won his first Grammy award in 1972, Burton began a now 38 year-long collaboration with pianist Chick Corea,[3] recognized for popularizing the format of jazz duet performance. Their half dozen recordings won the pair Grammy awards in years 1979, 1981, 1997, 1999, and most recently in 2009, for The New Crystal Silence.
Burton has played with a variety of jazz musicians, including Carla Bley, Hank Garland, Gato Barbieri, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Steve Lacy, Pat Metheny, Makoto Ozone, Adam Nussbaum, Tiger Okoshi, Stan Getz, Herbie Hancock, B.B. King, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Tommy Smith, Eberhard Weber, Stephane Grappelli and tango legend Ástor Piazzolla.
From 2004-2008 Burton hosted a weekly jazz radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio. From September 2006 - April 2008, Burton toured worldwide with Chick Corea celebrating 35 years of working together. Most recently Burton has toured and recorded with Pat Metheny, Steve Swallow, and Antonio Sanchez (The Gary Burton Quartet Revisited), reprising music from the Burton's 1970s group.
Burton's available recordings, as of 2010, are mainly those from Atlantic Records, ECM Records, GRP Records and the Concord Jazz label.
On Wednesday, February 23, Mack Avenue Records announced that they signed Burton. He plans to release his next project, entitled "Common Ground" featuring The New Gary Burton Quartet (featuring Julian Lage, Scott Colley, and Antonio Sanchez) on June 7.
[edit] Private life
Following an early marriage in his 20's, Burton married for a second time in 1975 to Catherine Goldwyn, granddaughter of film producer Samuel Goldwyn (1879–1974). Together for nearly a decade, the couple had two children, a daughter Stephanie (born 1978), and a son, Sam, (born 1980). In 1985, Burton publicly declared himself as a gay man, making him one of only a few openly gay jazz musicians. His longtime partner is Jonathan Chong.
[edit] Discography
[edit] As leader
- New Vibe Man in Town (RCA, 1961)
- Who is Gary Burton? (RCA, 1962)
- 3 in Jazz (RCA, 1963)
- Something's Coming! (RCA, 1963)
- The Groovy Sound of Music (RCA, 1964)
- The Time Machine (RCA, 1966)
- Tennessee Firebird (RCA, 1966)
- Duster (RCA, 1967)
- Lofty Fake Anagram (RCA, 1967)
- A Genuine Tong Funeral (RCA, 1968) with Carla Bley
- Gary Burton Quartet in Concert (RCA, 1968)
- Country Roads & Other Places (RCA, 1969)
- Throb (Atlantic, 1969)
- Good Vibes (Atlantic, 1969)
- Paris Encounter (Atlantic, 1969) with Stephane Grappelli
- Gary Burton & Keith Jarrett (Atlantic, 1970) with Keith Jarrett
- Alone at Last (Atlantic, 1971)
- Crystal Silence (ECM, 1972) with Chick Corea
- The New Quartet (ECM, 1973)
- Seven Songs For Quartet And Chamber Orchestra (ECM, 1974) featuring music by Mike Gibbs
- Hotel Hello (ECM, 1974) with Steve Swallow
- Ring (ECM, 1974) with Eberhard Weber
- Matchbook (ECM, 1974) with Ralph Towner
- Dreams So Real (1975) featuring music by Carla Bley (ECM)
- Passengers (ECM, 1976) with Eberhard Weber
- Times Square (ECM, 1978)
- Duet (ECM, 1979) with Chick Corea
- In Concert, Zurich, October 28, 1979 (ECM, 1980) with Chick Corea
- Easy as Pie (ECM, 1980)
- Picture This (ECM, 1982)
- Lyric Suite for Sextet (ECM, 1982) with Chick Corea
- Real Life Hits (ECM, 1984)
- Gary Burton and the Berklee All-Stars (JVC, 1985)
- Slide Show (ECM, 1986) with Ralph Towner
- Whiz Kids (ECM, 1986)
- Times Like These (GRP, 1988)
- The New Tango (1988) with Ástor Piazzolla
- Reunion (GRP, 1989) with Pat Metheny, Will Lee, Peter Erskine, Mitchel Forman
- Right Time, Right Place (GNP Crescendo, 1990)
- Cool Nights (GRP, 1991)
- Six Pack (GRP, 1992)
- It's Another Day (GRP, 1993)
- Face to Face (GRP, 1994)
- Live in Cannes (Jazz World, 1996)
- Ástor Piazzolla Reunion: A Tango Excursion (Concord Jazz, 1996)
- Departure (Concord Jazz, 1997)
- Native Sense with Chick Corea (1997)
- Like Minds with Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Roy Haynes, and Dave Holland (1998)
- Alone At Last (solo album/CD) Live- cuts 1-3 @ Montreaux Jazz Festival 1971-, Studio- cuts 4-7. (32jazz, 1999)
- Libertango: The Music of Ástor Piazzolla (Concord Jazz, 2000)
- For Hamp, Red, Bags, and Cal (Concord Jazz, 2001)
- Virtuosi (Concord, 2002)
- Music of Duke Ellington (LRC Ltd, 2003)
- Generations (Concord Jazz, 2004)
- Next Generation (Concord, 2005)
- Live in Montreux 2002 (Eagle Eye, 2006)
- L'Hymne a l'Amour (2007) with Richard Galliano
- The New Crystal Silence (Concord Jazz 2008) with Chick Corea
- "Quartet Live" (Concord Jazz 2009) with Pat Metheny, Steve Swallow, Antonio Sanchez
- "Common Ground" Gary Burton The New Quartet
[edit] As sideman
With Chet Atkins
- After the Riot in Newport with the Nashville Allstars (RCA, 1960)
With Bob Brookmeyer
- Bob Brookmeyer and Friends (Columbia, 1962)
With Bruce Cockburn
- The Charity of Night (1996)
With Floyd Cramer
- Last Date (1960)
With Hank Garland
- Jazz Winds from a New Direction (1960)
With Stan Getz
- Getz au GoGo (Verve, 1964)
- Getz/Gilberto #2 (Verve, 1964)
- Nobody Else But Me (Verve, 1964)
With k. d. lang
- Ingénue (Sire, 1992)
With Hubert Laws
- Wild Flower (Atlantic, 1972)
With George Shearing
- Out of the Woods (1963)
With Eberhard Weber
- Fluid Rustle (ECM, 1979)
With Jon Weber
- Simple Complex (2nd Century Jazz, 2004)
[edit] Awards
Over the years, Gary Burton has been nominated for 15 Grammy Awards and he has won 6:
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Myers, Marc (2010-07-27). "Interview: Gary Burton". All About Jazz. http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=61427. Retrieved 2010-08-09.
- ^ a b Yanow, Scott. "Gary Burton". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p6212/biography. Retrieved 2010-08-09.
- ^ Kelman, John (2009-09-02). "Chick Corea/Gary Burton: Crystal Silence - The ECM Recordings 1972-79". All About Jazz. http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=33871. Retrieved 2010-08-09.
[edit] External links
- 1943 births
- Living people
- American jazz vibraphonists
- American jazz composers
- American academics
- Avant-garde jazz musicians
- Berklee College of Music alumni
- Berklee College of Music faculty
- Jazz vibraphonists
- People from Anderson, Indiana
- Grammy Award winners
- GRP Records artists
- ECM artists
- LGBT musicians from the United States
