May 2001

"I really felt the need to do something fresh and original and “me” with them; if I just do a replica it’s gonna just fall flat, because I’m not very good at imitating and recreating."

For Hamp, Red, Bags, And Cal
Reviewed By
Don Williamson

From the Inside Out
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By Chris M. Slawecki

“Thank you” is such a simple, honest phrase. A phrase, daresay, that nobody hears often enough – most likely because almost nobody says it often enough.

For Hamp, Red, Bags and Cal (Concord Jazz) is vibraphonist Gary Burton’s “thank you” to four vibraphone masters, without whom the course of Burton’s chosen instrument could not be the same: Lionel Hampton, Red Norvo, Milt “Bags” Jackson, and Cal Tjader. Burton explains his motivation for this tribute to his mentors, inspirations, and friends quite simply: “I and my contemporaries owe a lot to these players because they all made significant contributions to the evolution of the instrument. They are my predecessors, and my heroes.”

Burton works with several different bands on For Hamp…. He most often employs the stellar rhythm section of pianist Mulgrew Miller, bassist Christian McBride, drummer Lewis Nash and guitarist Russell Malone. For several Latin pieces in tribute to Tjader, he joins with pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, drummer Horacio Hernandez and percussionist Luis Quintero; Burton ends this offering in two duets with pianist Makoto Ozone, who also contributed the inventive arrangements that provide this album’s heartbeat. Offering instant-classic versions of such instrumental signature pieces as “Flying Home” (Hampton) and “Bags’ Groove” (Jackson), Burton comprises the entire Jazz history of the vibraphone in this single masterstroke. Upon its release, this modern master shared with AAJ his thoughts on the past and present of his instrument, as well as the exciting thought that fifty years from now, a vibes player yet unborn may be preparing and recording his or her own “thank you” to Gary Burton.

AAJ: How meaningful was it for you to be able to conceive For Hamp, Red, Bags and Cal, and then to execute it?
GB: Let me start with how I came to the idea of even doing it. A friend of mine, a Jazz fan, was visiting his place in Washington, and he said, “Oh, listen to this song – you ought to record this.” It was Ella Fitzgerald’s recording of “Midnight Sun.” Of course, he didn’t know that it was actually a Lionel Hampton tune, he just happened to hear it on Ella’s record and there was actually a vibraphone player in the background. So I explained to him that I’ve always stayed away from doing the signatures of other vibraphone players because, you know, we’re each out there establishing our own voice and our own material and so on.

Then I went home and started thinking about it. And a lot of things had happened at just that moment in time: Two of the significant players had passed away, Milt Jackson and Red Norvo, within a few months of each other. And one of the interesting things about the vibraphone is that, until recently, almost all of the major players in the history of the instrument were still living. I had remarked on this even a few times in interviews (Editor’s Note: Including an interview with AAJ.com) or in conversations with people, how unusual it was for this instrument which was now ‘round about 75 years, that so many of the players are all still with us, like this little club of musicians that have stuck together and stayed with it all this time. It seemed like a real turning point last year, when these two giants passed away and the century turned, and I looked back on the history of this instrument and the role that it’s played in my life and in Jazz, and how I had known each of these people for quite a few years. And it just seemed like nostalgia was welling up in me, and I felt… instead of usually looking forward to what’s coming next in the world of music that I want to be part of, I found myself looking back and saying, “What did these people do and how can I honor them?”

AAJ: What did you do that says, “This is Gary Burton playing,” while remaining true to the spirit of Red Norvo in “Move”?
GB: Red recorded “Move” in 1950, ’51, with what many people consider to be his most significant, innovative group, a trio with Charles Mingus on bass and Tal Farlow on guitar, with Red playing vibes. The group was only together for a couple of years, recorded essentially enough material for one record, and then everybody went their separate ways; both Mingus and Tal Farlow, who were in their twenties at the time, were new guys and they went on to each become famous leaders and musicians in their own right. So this was sort of the launch of their careers.

Red liked to play these uptempo, clever, quick-moving pieces. They have these intricate arrangements that they had worked out for the trio, and this was a good example of it. And I picked that one in particular because the very first record I made, when I was seventeen years old, was with a guitar player named Hank Garland, and he was a big Tal Farlow fan. He chose that tune and we recorded it when I was seventeen. I had forgotten about it until we were at the recording session and Russell Malone said, “You know, it must be interesting to be doing this tune again,” and I said, “What do you mean, again?”. He said, “Well, you know it’s on the Hank Garland record.” He was a big fan of that record. Then I remembered: “That’s right. We DID play this song. And I remember Hank talking about Tal Farlow and Tal’s version of this with Red. So, for me, it was a very interesting historical connection with my own career.

I did it at the same tempo as Red’s version, but I wanted to make a little more modern arrangement out of it. So Makoto Ozone and I, we did the arrangements together, we added some breaks and things for the vibes, and reharmonized these little intros and interludes a little bit in the midst of the arrangement, to make it sound a little more modern.

I was very worried, in all of the pieces, about trying to do an exact replica. I only did that on two pieces, on the xylophone and marimba pieces at the end (“Hole in the Wall” and “Dance of the Octopus”), where in fact I just took what Red had written and played on his 1933 recordings and played them verbatim. There was no improvising involved on those. All of the other pieces, I really felt the need to do something fresh and original and “me” with them; if I just do a replica it’s gonna just fall flat, because I’m not very good at imitating and recreating. And besides, that was 1950, this is now fifty years later – I want to respect what the original guys did by choosing the tune and generally keeping the format that they used, but wanted to make it more interesting harmonically or in terms of the structure of the arrangement.

AAJ:Is it all intimidating to record your own version of “Flying Home” (Hampton)?
GB: “Flying Home” didn’t worry me nearly as much as “Bags’ Groove.” “Flying Home” has been recorded by a lot of different people – it’s a Big Band number, it was a Benny Goodman song, it was a Hamp song, it’s been done a lot of different ways by a lot of different people.

Milt, on the other hand, was really identified with “Bags’ Groove,” completely. He recorded it probably eight or ten times in the course of his career, and I only am aware of his versions. I’ve never heard anyone else playing “Bags’ Groove,” although I’m sure they have. It’s so identified with vibes, for me, and with Milt.

Anyway, “Flying Home”: I actually played this with Hamp once, and of all things, Milt was playing along with us as well. And Red Norvo, and Bobby Hutcherson, and myself – there were five of us. This was at the Newport Jazz Festival in1968. George Wein put together this program with five vibraphone players and a rhythm section; we each played a couple of tunes on our own, and then we came out at the end with all five vibraphones lined up, and we played “Flying Home” and a blues in F which may have been “Bags’ Groove,” I can’t remember now, I just remember that we did a blues. Then something else as an encore that Hamp started off and we all joined in, I don’t remember what it was. It was pouring rain, but a huge crowd had stayed for the whole thing. To this day, people walk up to me and remark on that concert: “I was there when you guys played that afternoon, it was the most amazing afternoon,” and so on. It was astounding.

At that point, I didn’t know most of them very well. I had only been a bandleader myself for about a year at that point. I did get to know them better. I did a tour with Red a year later for about a month in Europe, got to know him very well. Milt I just saw off and on over the years; we finally did a month of touring together about five years ago, also in Europe, and I got to spend time with him.

Anyway, “Flying Home” – I got off the track. There’s not much to “Flying Home,” it’s just a little simple theme over and over again. So we were looking at it, trying to figure out what we could do with it to make it a little more modern. Makoto came up with this sort of vamp background, the shifting harmony back and forth, which made it sound a little more modern and up to date. And we made it a little bit more of a feature for the rhythm section guys because of that. That seemed to be just the right touch to keep enough of the original, straight-ahead, simple-themed, exciting Swing feel, and yet making the harmonies a little more modern. So that’s what we did with that one.

AAJ: Your introduction to “Afro-Blue,” for Cal Tjader, is some of the most soulful playing you’ve ever recorded. What was happening there?
GB: We arranged the piece, and then Makoto went home to his apartment and made a little demo version to send out to the musicians. He sequenced them – these days, we do that, so that everybody can hear the arrangement as well as see the music in advance. He put the little introduction on the front like that, playing the piano, and said, “You should play some kind of intro thing like that.”

I got to the studio, and I was trying to think: “OK, what’s the right mood here, what do I hear, what do I feel?” We had rehearsed the tune itself, and now it’s time to start making takes. I had to now start putting the intro on the front to set it up and get us started. Really, what entered my mind as an inspiration, and I hear it now every time I hear the track, is I started to think about Astor Piazolla, about my tango music. And somehow, that, because it was out of time and it was minor, and I wanted it to be dramatic, and so…it just reminded me of the experience that I’ve had playing tango music. I know that has no connection to Cal Tjader directly, because he wasn’t a tango player, but that’s what was going through my mind.

At the time I did it, I knew in my mind that I’d really connected with something. When we listened to the playback, the other musicians that night – Danilo, Patitucci and so on – really reacted strongly to it – “Wow, that was something else!” Sometimes, how can I put it – sometimes you just get lucky and have one of those moments when everything clicks when everything counts. A lot of times you have that moment and you’re playing in a school gymnasium in South Dakota and you wonder why you couldn’t do it the week before when you were playing at Carnegie Hall. But this was one of those occasions when it was recording the take that we ended up using, and it really just came together. I’m sure I couldn’t repeat it, or do anything as strong as that now if I stepped over to the vibes and tried to. It just had to be the right moment.

AAJ: How is this new version of “Bags’ Groove” the Gary Burton version?
GB: This was a tricky one, because I played this tune with Milt for about a month as a duet piece. This was one of our encore pieces that we played together – so I was certainly used to playing the melody with him, playing the out chorus with him, and so on. So how can we do this that somehow doesn’t sound like I’m just trying to play like him?

I don’t play the melody at the beginning – we gave it to Mulgrew. Makoto came up with this really clever harmony sequence underneath the melody which I’m sure would come as a surprise to anyone who’s ever heard the song before because it kind of jumps all over the place and makes it sound almost like a different song before we finally get into the solos. But in the solo parts, I wanted as much as possible to capture Milt’s feel. When I listen to it now, this is maybe my favorite song on the record because of that solo, because I feel that solo does, in a very nice, respectful way, kind of capture the feel and style of his really loose, driving soloing. Of course, I couldn’t have asked for a better rhythm section for that tune as well; Mulgrew and Christian and Lewis were terrific at establishing this sort of classic Jazz blues feel that was also very much Milt’s genre. I think the arrangement is what kept it from being just a copy of Milt, but I like to think that my solo, you know, really brought his spirit into the thing.

AAJ: Will your schedule allow you to put a band together and tour with this record?
GB: Interestingly enough, until a week ago I would have said, “No.” But there is going to be one opportunity. Yoshii’s in Oakland called up and really loved this record and wanted to see if they could book it. I said, “Good luck getting these guys – there’s a whole bunch of different people and they all have their own bands or doing their own things.” I’d never really given any thought to doing any live gigs with them. It’s a nightmare challenge to get everybody scheduled. They said, “If we put the people together, would you do it?” And I said, “Well, sure, give it a try and let me know.” About three days later they called back and said, “We got Mulgrew, Lewis, Christian, and Russell Malone all available the same week in November. Will you do it?” I said, “Absolutely.”

We’re going to do one week together. I didn’t add the Latin people as well; I felt that would be almost too many people to try to accommodate a live gig. But the Jazz band part will be there. We’ll do some of the Latin tunes anyway, but we’ll be able to do all the Norvo stuff and the Milt and the Lionel stuff. It’ll be a thrill, frankly, to have a gig with these guys – these are the best in the business for this music, and I was thrilled that they were available to do the record sessions. To actually have a whole week with them will be a lot of fun. I’m really looking forward to it.

AAJ: How excited are you by the prospect of your name one day appearing on a vibraphone players’ “tribute” album such as For Hamp, Red, Bags and Cal? Is “excited” even the right word? Apprehensive? Nervous? Frightened?
GB: I would be excited. I think that would be a fun thing to do. In fact, I think the idea of sitting back and listening to somebody new on the scene play your material in new ways would be a very exciting and fun experience. Now, I don’t compose much, and I don’t think I have what would be called a signature piece or two, I’ve never had a theme song or had that sort of thing emerge from career in quite the way that Hamp did or the way Milt did. I notice Red didn’t either; although he had done a lot of different songs during his career, there was no one in particular that was identified as “his song.”

I probably wouldn’t have welcomed this if I was thirty years old, someone else doing my material. But I’m getting close to sixty; at this point in my life, I think I would find it tremendously flattering, and also really be very interested in how they reconceived the material and gave it new life.

I did a piece of Red’s on a record about ten years ago, when he was still alive, and he called me up afterwards – it was one of his early xylophone pieces on a Benny Goodman tribute record with Eddie Daniels – and was just beaming, he just was so thrilled that I had done this. And I was, you know, it was fun for me, actually; this was a great old piece of music from the 1930s and I thought it was great to give it new life. Then I just loved the fact that he was thrilled.

AAJ: It’s hard to believe that in a few short years, your albums from the ‘60s will be nearly half a century old.
GB: I know! It’s something I started in 1960, with the first ones. And it’s hard for me to believe that my records from 1960 have already passed the forty year mark. It’s hard for me to believe that this record is my 54th record. It feels like I’ve made twenty records, maybe, over my life, and it feels like I’ve been playing maybe twenty years. To actually look at the real numbers, it still doesn’t seem possible. Goes by quickly.

AAJ: Have you been able to gauge the response to this record? It seems that if McCoy Tyner, for example, did an album in tribute to his favorite piano players, or John McLaughlin with his guitar influences, that it would meet a tremendous response.
GB: I was aware of this and anticipating it. Part of it is that it’s the vibraphone. You have to bear in mind that a lot of people don’t even know what it is; I still to this day find myself continually explaining, “Well, it’s like a xylophone only it has metal keys. Remember Lionel Hampton? You ever heard of him?” That sort of thing – I continually have to tell people what it is. It’s not as common an instrument; certainly it’s known to music critics and Jazz buffs and so on, because it’s primarily an instrument that’s only in Jazz anyway. So that’s one of the reasons that I wasn’t sure what the response would be, just based on the fact that someone might look at it and say, “Bags? Cal? Red? Who are these people? I don’t know what that is.” So you’ll notice on the cover I really went out of my way to have lots of pictures of five mallets and me playing it, so that people could make the connection as to what the hell it was.

However, radio response has been quite good. Concord sends me these reports, and it’s number three, last week, in the country on Gavin Radio, and it’s being played on 79 out of the 82 Jazz programs in the country – they track 82 stations in the U.S. that have Jazz programming. The first week it was out, I guess it was, it was the second most requested record of the week on Jazz radio, they told me. And then Makoto just e-mailed me from Berlin saying that the local Jazz radio there had picked it as the Album of the Month. Also, it was released a month early in Japan and it had already sold several thousand copies even before they started promoting it. The record company was quite pleased that it had such an initial, opening start that was more than they had expected. The feedback that I’ve been getting from Concord is that they’re very excited with the response it’s been getting. It was maybe even more than I expected, being that it was about vibraphone, maybe that would limit it to a narrow fanbase. But it seems to getting a fair amount of attention.