Gary Burton | |
|---|---|
 Burton in 2008 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1943-01-23)January 23, 1943 (age 82) Anderson, Indiana, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Instrument | Vibraphone |
| Years active | 1960–2017 |
| Labels | |
Gary Burton (born January 23, 1943)[1] is an American retiredjazzvibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused him to be heralded as an innovator, and his sound and technique are widely imitated.[2] He is also known for pioneeringjazz fusion and popularizing the duet format in jazz, as well as being a major figure in music education from his 30 years teaching at theBerklee College of Music.
Burton was born inAnderson, Indiana, United States.[1] Beginning music at six years old, he mostly taught himself to play marimba and vibraphone.[3] He began studying piano at age sixteen while finishing high school atPrinceton Community High School inPrinceton, Indiana (1956–60). He has cited jazz pianistBill Evans as the inspiration for his approach to thevibraphone.[4]
Burton attendedBerklee College of Music inBoston,Massachusetts,[3] in 1960–61 and the Stan Kenton Clinic atIndiana University in 1960. He studied withHerb Pomeroy and soon befriended composer and arrangerMichael Gibbs.[1] After establishing his career during the 1960s, he returned to join the staff of Berklee from 1971 to 2004, serving first as professor, then dean, and executive vice president, during his last decade at the college. In 1989, Burton received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee.[5]
Early in his career, at the behest of Nashville saxophonistBoots Randolph,[3] Burton moved toNashville, Tennessee and recorded with several musicians from the area, including guitaristHank Garland, pianistFloyd Cramer and guitaristChet Atkins.
Burton toured the U.S. and Japan with pianistGeorge Shearing.[6] Shearing asked Burton to write a whole album of compositions for him which were released asOut of the Woods in 1965. Burton described the album in his autobiography,Learning to Listen, as his "most ambitious effort at composing and arranging".[7] Burton played with saxophonistStan Getz from 1964 to 1966.[1] It was during this time that he appeared with the band in the movieGet Yourself a College Girl, playing "Girl from Ipanema" withAstrud Gilberto. In 1967, he formed the Gary Burton Quartet with guitaristLarry Coryell, drummerRoy Haynes, and bassistSteve Swallow.[1] Predating thejazz-rock fusion[6] craze of the 1970s, the group's first album,Duster,[1] combined jazz,country, androck. However, some of Burton's previous albums (notablyTennessee Firebird andThe Time Machine, both from 1966) had already shown his inclination toward such experimentation. After Coryell left the quartet in the late 1960s, Burton worked with guitaristsJerry Hahn,David Pritchard,Mick Goodrick,Pat Metheny,John Scofield,Wolfgang Muthspiel,Kurt Rosenwinkel, andJulian Lage.
Burton was namedDownBeat magazine's Jazzman of the Year in 1968 (the youngest to receive that title) and won his first Grammy Award in 1972. The following year Burton began a forty-year collaboration with pianistChick Corea,[8] recognized for popularizing the format of jazz duet performance. Their eight albums won Grammy Awards in 1979, 1981, 1997, 1999, 2009, and 2013.
Burton has played with a wide variety of jazz musicians, includingGato Barbieri,Carla Bley,Chick Corea,Peter Erskine,Stan Getz,Hank Garland,Stephane Grappelli,Herbie Hancock,Keith Jarrett,B. B. King,Steve Lacy,Pat Metheny,Makoto Ozone,Tiger Okoshi,Astor Piazzolla,Tommy Smith,Ralph Towner, andEberhard Weber.[1]
Burton is known for his variation of traditional four-mallet grip which has come to be known as "Burton grip", and is popular among jazz vibraphonists,[1] as well as some concert marimbists, includingPius Cheung andEvelyn Glennie.
From 2004 to 2008, Burton hosted a weekly jazz radio show onSirius Satellite Radio. In 2011, he released his first album forMack Avenue Records, entitledCommon Ground, featuring the New Gary Burton Quartet (with Julian Lage, Scott Colley, and Antonio Sanchez). In 2013, the group releasedGuided Tour, their second recording forMack Avenue Records. Burton's autobiography,Learning to Listen, was published byBerklee Press in August 2013 and was voted "Jazz Book of the Year" by theJazz Journalists Association.
Burton retired from performing in March 2017 following a farewell tour with pianist and longtime collaboratorMakoto Ozone.[9][10]
Burton is openly gay. He was in a homosexual relationship by the 1980s, and hecame out publicly in a 1994 radio interview withTerry Gross. In 2013, he married Jonathan Chong inProvincetown, Massachusetts.[11] Burton's current partner is Dustin Le.[12]
| Recording date | Title | Label | Year released | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961-07-06, -07 | New Vibe Man in Town | RCA | 1961 | |
| 1962-09-14, -15 | Who Is Gary Burton? | RCA | 1963 | |
| 1963-02-14, -20 1963-03-11 | 3 in Jazz | RCA | 1963 | |
| 1963-08-14 – -16 | Something's Coming! | RCA | 1964 | |
| 1964-12-21, -22 | The Groovy Sound of Music | RCA | 1965 | |
| 1966-04-05, -06 | The Time Machine | RCA | 1966 | |
| 1966-09-19 – -21 | Tennessee Firebird | RCA | 1967 | |
| 1967-04-18 – -20 | Duster | RCA | 1967 | Quartet |
| 1967-07 | A Genuine Tong Funeral | RCA | 1968 | |
| 1967-08-15 – 17 | Lofty Fake Anagram | RCA | 1967 | |
| 1968-02-23 | Gary Burton Quartet in Concert | RCA | 1968 | Live |
| 1968-09-24 – 27 | Country Roads & Other Places | RCA | 1969 | |
| 1969-06-02 – -05 | Throb | Atlantic | 1969 | |
| 1969-11-04 | Paris Encounter withStéphane Grappelli | Atlantic | 1972 | |
| 1969-09-02 – -04, 1970-03-11 | Good Vibes | Atlantic | 1970 | |
| 1970-07-23 | Gary Burton & Keith Jarrett | Atlantic | 1971 | |
| 1971-06-02 | Live in Tokyo | Atlantic | 1971 | Live atSankei Hall, Tokyo |
| 1971-06-19, 1971-09-07 | Alone at Last | Atlantic | 1972 | 3 tracks from live at theMontreux Jazz Festival |
| 1972-11-06 | Crystal Silence withChick Corea | ECM | 1973 | |
| 1973-03-05, -06 | The New Quartet | ECM | 1973 | |
| 1973-06-25, -26 | In The Public Interest withMike Gibbs | Polydor | 1974 | |
| 1973-12 | Seven Songs for Quartet and Chamber Orchestra | ECM | 1974 | |
| 1974-05-13, -14 | Hotel Hello withSteve Swallow | ECM | 1975 | |
| 1974-07-23, -24 | Ring withEberhard Weber | ECM | 1974 | |
| 1974-07-26, -27 | Matchbook withRalph Towner | ECM | 1975 | |
| 1975-12 | Dreams So Real | ECM | 1976 | |
| 1976-11 | Passengers with Eberhard Weber | ECM | 1977 | |
| 1978-01 | Times Square | ECM | 1978 | |
| 1978-10-23 – -25 | Duet with Chick Corea | ECM | 1979 | |
| 1979-10-28 | In Concert, Zürich, October 28, 1979 with Chick Corea | ECM | 1980 | Live at Limmathaus,Zürich |
| 1980-06 | Easy as Pie | ECM | 1981 | |
| 1981-01 | Live in Cannes | Jazz World | 1996 | Live atPalais des Festivals et des Congrès |
| 1982-01 | Picture This | ECM | 1982 | |
| 1982-09 | Lyric Suite for Sextet with Chick Corea | ECM | 1983 | |
| 1984-11 | Real Life Hits | ECM | 1985 | |
| 1985-05 | Slide Show with Ralph Towner | ECM | 1986 | |
| 1985-07-28 | Gary Burton And The Berklee Allstars | JVC | 1986 | |
| 1986-06 | Whiz Kids | ECM | 1987 | |
| 1986-07 | The New Tango withAstor Piazzolla | Atlantic | 1987 | Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival |
| 1988? | Times Like These | GRP | 1988 | |
| 1989-05-06 – -10 | Reunion withPat Metheny,Will Lee,Peter Erskine,Mitchel Forman | GRP | 1990 | |
| 1990-03-29 | Right Time, Right Place with Paul Bley | GNP Crescendo | 1990 | |
| 1991? | Cool Nights | GRP | 1991 | |
| 1991-10-10, 1992-04-25 | Six Pack | GRP | 1992 | |
| 1993-05 | It's Another Day withRebecca Parris | GRP | 1994 | |
| 1994-10-31, 1994-11-01 | Face to Face withMakoto Ozone | GRP | 1995 | |
| 1994-11-08 | Four Duke withJay Leonhart,Joe Beck,Terry Clarke | LRC | 1995 | also released as Play the Music of Duke Ellington |
| 1996-09-20 – -22 | Departure | Concord Jazz | 1997 | |
| 1996-12-02 – -05 | Ástor Piazzolla Reunion: A Tango Excursion | Concord Jazz | 1998 | |
| 1997-06 | Native Sense - The New Duets withChick Corea | Stretch | 1997 | |
| 1997-12-15 – -17 | Like Minds withChick Corea,Pat Metheny,Roy Haynes, andDave Holland | Concord Jazz | 1998 | |
| 1999-01-20 – -24 | Libertango: The Music of Ástor Piazzolla | Concord Jazz | 2000 | |
| 2000-05-11, -23, -24, 2000-06--03 | For Hamp, Red, Bags, and Cal | Concord Jazz | 2001 | |
| 2001-08-14, -15, 2001-10-14, -15 | Virtuosi with Makoto Ozone | Concord Jazz | 2002 | |
| 2003-09-16 – -18 | Generations | Concord Jazz | 2004 | |
| 2004-11-08, -10 | Next Generation | Concord Jazz | 2005 | |
| 2007-06-10, -11 | Quartet Live withPat Metheny,Steve Swallow,Antonio Sanchez | Concord Jazz | 2009 | Live atYoshi's, Oakland, California |
| 2007–05, 2007-07 | The New Crystal Silence with Chick Corea | Concord Jazz | 2008 | [2CD] Live |
| 2011-07-04 | Common Ground | Mack Avenue | 2011 | |
| 2012? | Hot House with Chick Corea | Concord Jazz | 2012 | |
| 2013-03-21 – -23 | Time Thread with Makoto Ozone | Universal | 2013 | |
| 2013? | Guided Tour | Mack Avenue | 2013 | [13] |
Compilations
WithThomas Clausen
WithHank Garland
WithStan Getz
WithGeorge Shearing
WithEberhard Weber
With others
