The vibraphonist Gary Burton's new quartet has the same shape as an important one he led 43 years ago on the record “Duster": vibes, guitar, bass, drums. He was 24 then and figuring out ways to make jazz an even bigger container of American sound than it already was: it could evoke Chet Atkins and the Byrds and Ornette Coleman and Count Basie and the Modern Jazz Quartet.
His ideas from that time are still pinging around, often unacknowledged, which could be because Mr. Burton never became a great composer or a fountain of charisma. He's a clear and fluid improviser with four mallets, he's a good arranger and he knows how to assemble a band.
His guitarist now is Julian Lage (pronounced Lahj), who has worked with Mr. Burton for the last 6 of his 22 years. Mr. Burton was an academic and an administrator, ending more than 30 years of service at Berklee School of Music in 2004; it had encouraged his tradition of hiring extraordinary young players before they became names, including Pat Metheny and Kurt Rosenwinkel.
His ideas from that time are still pinging around, often unacknowledged, which could be because Mr. Burton never became a great composer or a fountain of charisma. He's a clear and fluid improviser with four mallets, he's a good arranger and he knows how to assemble a band.
His guitarist now is Julian Lage (pronounced Lahj), who has worked with Mr. Burton for the last 6 of his 22 years. Mr. Burton was an academic and an administrator, ending more than 30 years of service at Berklee School of Music in 2004; it had encouraged his tradition of hiring extraordinary young players before they became names, including Pat Metheny and Kurt Rosenwinkel.
