Jazz Articles about Gary Burton

Gary Burton & St: Paris Encounter

by AAJ Staff
June 1, 2001

Legend has it--and Gary Burton has confirmed it--that by the late 1960's, Stéphane Grappelli was tiring of being treated like a relic of the Quintette du Hot Club de Paris. He was purported to become staid and unadventurous, even as he continued to grow and seek new challenges. Those challenges, however, didn't present themselves, and Grappelli was reduced to playing regular sessions at the Hilton in Paris, where visiting American jazz musicians often sat in with him.And then, ...

Gary Burton: For Hamp, Red, Bags, and Cal

by David Adler
April 1, 2001

Gary Burton’s new release is a tribute record with a four-pronged twist, and with four different lineups. The vibraphonist’s honorees are Lionel Hampton, Red Norvo, Milt Jackson, and Cal Tjader — a grouping that provides a convenient historical survey of the vibraphone in jazz. While the result may not be a creative watershed, it definitely swings.Three of the five Red Norvo dedications are a deliberate re-creation of Norvo’s classic 1950s trio. Russell Malone and Christian McBride play the ...

Gary Burton: For Hamp, Red, Bags, And Cal

by AAJ Staff
March 1, 2001

After he broadened the possibilities of the vibraphone by exploring the music of Argentinean bandoneon genius Astor Piazzolla, Gary Burton now is looking back over the instrument’s relatively brief tradition in the year that he considers to be its seventy-fifth anniversary. The actual invention of the vibraphone remains a mystery, enhancements such as the vibrato and sustain pedal added incrementally. It seems that the vibes didn’t arrive fully developed at a single moment in time.Perhaps more versatile than ...

Gary Burton: Libertango

by Jim Santella
May 1, 2000

Subtitled The Music Of Astor Piazzolla, Gary Burton’s latest tango project underscores the role of harmony in that classic Argentine style, fusing folk and improvised music passages shoulder to shoulder. His four-mallet approach pays homage by interpreting a set of Piazzolla’s compositions alongside members of the composer-bandoneonist’s touring band. Classical timbres from violin, piano and double bass merge with that of the bandoneon, a large accordion-like instrument with a sound that blends expressive “harmonica reeds" with dramatic “organ stops."

There’s ...

Gary Burton: Alone at Last

by Robert Spencer
July 1, 1999

An album of solo vibes ? Well, solo piano albums are as common as rain showers, and the vibes aren't that far from the piano. Rather than being a single-line melodist like a saxophonist or a trumpeter, a vibes player can play harmony and melody simultaneously, like a pianist. Yet even with that exception aside, many may consider the sound of the vibes to be too bell-like, and anticipate that an all-vibes album would be like listening to church chimes ...

Gary Burton: Alone At Last

by Jim Santella
July 1, 1999

Vibraphonist Gary Burton joined the faculty at the Berklee College of Music in Boston the same year Alone At Last was recorded twenty-eight years ago. By that time he had already recorded over a dozen albums as leader and had formed critical professional relationships with (among others) Keith Jarrett, Steve Swallow, Larry Coryell, Roy Haynes, and Stan Getz. His four-mallet unaccompanied vibraphone improvisation, which appears on four tracks, is rich in harmony and remarkable in technique.

Burton won a Grammy ...

Gary Burton: A Genuine Tong Funeral

by C. Andrew Hovan
June 1, 1999

Largely forgotten about these days, the fact remains that vibraphonist Gary Burton had beat Miles Davis to the fusion of rock and jazz by at least two years. His first RCA album, Duster, was cut in 1967 and featured guitarist Larry Coryell on a set of tunes that while not as spacey or lengthy as Davis's forays into the fusion bag, nonetheless forged a style that clearly was new at the time. It has taken some time for anyone to ...