GARY BURTON Some Lessons, Too.” There Was a Woman in to Turn Over Every Rock and See What’S Under QUARTET the Neighborhood Who Played the Marimba It and Then Use It
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ISSUE #33 MMUSICMAG.COM ISSUE #33 MMUSICMAG.COM MUSICIAN Why the vibes? extremely capable. In fact, he’s the best ESSENTIAL BURTON I was 6 when my sister started piano lessons jazz musician in recording studios I’ve ever and I watched while she practiced. My father known. Many with his success would sit thought, “Maybe Gary should start taking back and do their thing, but he is determined THE GARY BURTON some lessons, too.” There was a woman in to turn over every rock and see what’s under QUARTET the neighborhood who played the marimba it and then use it. He plays with every major Duster, 1967 and the vibraphone. That’s where they took player to see what it’s like. He’s constantly After apprenticing with me. It was pure coincidence. reaching and pushing himself. He reminds saxophonist Stan Getz and me of Miles in that sense. He has a restless others, Burton experimented with rock—even What attracted you to jazz? spirit. Pat and I don’t play together every opening for Cream. This quartet featuring We became a little family band, so we each year, but every few years we do another little guitarist Larry Coryell, bassist Steve Swallow had some money, and my brother and sister tour, another project or something. and drummer Roy Haynes was electrifying, and I got our own record players. I got my but Burton still manages to bring nuance to hands on a Benny Goodman record and You helped create fusion in the ’60s. the mix. the music was killer. I instantly loved the Until about three or four years ago, I almost rhythmic excitement. I realized that I’d been never saw any reference to my role in the GARY BURTON sort of improvising in my own way. So then birth of fusion music. I was looking for some Astor Piazzolla Reunion: I was on a quest to find more jazz records. way to make the music sound like rock. A Tango Excursion, 1998 My father would drive me every Saturday to Guitar was key, and I found Larry Coryell. Burton was right at the one record store in Evansville, an hour Larry played this weird mix of rock and jazz home within the dynamic away, and I’d see what they had. I found licks and I thought, “Perfect. This is just what rhythms of the tango, and this tribute to I’ve been thinking about.” It makes me feel the late Argentinean master is imbued with good that it’s recognized. I figure I’ve only drama, color and an appreciation for the done a few things that are really innovative genre’s cultural significance. Burton’s ‘I’m not nearly in my career. Another is introducing four- melodies dance merrily, creating a warm, mallet playing. I wasn’t the first to do that, enveloping sound. as aggressive at but I was the first to establish it as a way of playing the vibes. GARY BURTON, Jimmy Katz PAT METHENY, writing as Why did you write an autobiography? STEVE SWALLOW, I started on it 10 or 15 years ago. I began to ANTONIO SANCHEZ many are.’ think maybe I had something to say—I’d been Quartet Live, 2009 in the business for decades and had quite a Of all of Burton’s quartets, the one featuring Art Blakey, Dave Brubeck, Charles Mingus, lot of experiences. I’ve always enjoyed telling Metheny, Swallow and drummer Sanchez Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis. My high school stories—jazz stories, on-the-road stories. I’m may be his most celebrated. The kinship years were filled with discovering jazz. fascinated by musicians I’ve known—their among them is kinetic in this live set—with GARY BURTON personal quirks and how they function the vibist and guitarist syncing so seamlessly What vibes players influenced you? creatively. at times they feel like a two-headed musician. The jazz legend continues to innovate with a host of new projects Milt Jackson. The Modern Jazz Quartet was a new band at that time, and I loved his playing. You wrote just one song on the album. GARY BURTON, By Jeff Tamarkin He’s always been my favorite player of the I’m not nearly as aggressive at writing as CHICK COREA historic figures. Milt was my hero, although many are. On records, I often contribute one Crystal Silence: The ECM GARY BURTON COULD EASILY REST ON HIS LAURELS, was an instructor at Boston’s Berklee college of Music, a position I never played anything like him. But there or two songs at the most. But everybody else Recordings 1972-79, secure in the knowledge that he’s made his mark as one of the greatest he held for more than three decades—though his association with the wasn’t much on record by other vibes players. writes, and I’ve always had a vision that the 2009 vibraphonists in jazz history. at 71, he has more than five decades of school began in 1960 when he arrived as a student. “When I started ideal small jazz combo would be this kind of The 1972 collaboration that launched an innovation and a pile of awards behind him, including seven Grammys, instructing in 1971,” Burton says, “it was unheard of for a currently You gravitate toward collaborating with balance—not all the music of just one guy. It’s innovative partnership is one of jazz’s best most for his stunning collaborations with keyboardist Chick Corea. working jazz musician to teach college. The only ones who did it guitarists. Why? hard to be broadly diverse in your composing. albums of all time. ECM has repackaged that But Burton is an ever-restless artist, and slowing down is were people who were retired from touring. But I liked it because it The blend of the vibes and the guitar is I can count on one hand the people who do it gem along with its two other Corea-Burton a foreign concept. in the past year alone, he’s released Guided keeps you in touch with younger musicians, which is healthy mentally.” interesting. Each instrument has its own stunningly well—Chick and Pat, for instance. meetings, 1978’s Duets and the live 1979 Tour, the sophomore album by the new Gary Burton Quartet—a Born and raised in Indiana, Burton was attracted to the vibes sound, but when you play together, it blends They’ve written a thousand songs in their In Concert, into a terrific box set. stellar group featuring guitarist Julian Lage, bassist Scott Colley and as a child, and by the time he was in his late teens he’d turned pro, into a different super-sound—but it doesn’t career and cover a huge range of styles and drummer Antonio Sanchez. Plus, he published his autobiography, working with greats Stan Getz and George Shearing and releasing sound like two different instruments. It offers compositions. Most jazzers are lucky to come THE NEW GARY Learning to Listen: The Jazz Journey of Gary Burton, and hosted a his debut album as a bandleader in 1961. Always the innovator, you more orchestration possibilities. It can up with the occasional gem. Miles didn’t BURTON QUARTET 13-part radio series for the Toronto jazz station CJRT-FM. Burton was a pioneer of the jazz-rock-fusion movement and one of sound pretty full and large, and yet we still write much of his own music even though Common Ground, 2011 He also continues to tour regularly in various configurations— the first vibraphonists to play with four mallets—and he has constantly have our individual instruments. he was the No. 1 bandleader of his day. Joining Burton and drummer and recently played a series of duo gigs at New York’s Blue note sought out new collaborators including Corea and a then-up-and- Sanchez in this new outfit with the Japanese-born pianist Makoto Ozone. They met while Burton coming teenage guitarist Pat Metheny. Pat Metheny is one of your favorites. Best and worst gigs? are bassist Scott Colley and wunderkind Pat was 19 when he joined my band. I’ve Worst gigs are the ones where nothing guitarist Julian Lage. While bringing an entirely watched Pat evolve from a young talented works: The place is a dump, the sound different flavor to the music than Metheny ‘I’m fascinated by musicians I’ve known—their player into a very mature musician and breaks down and the audience is rioting. and Burton’s other guitarists, Lage offers a personal quirks and how they function creatively.’ producer of music. He’s very original and Everybody has these things in their memory contemporary vision to this sublime set. 6260 62 63 No33-Mag-GOLD.inddM mag 33.indd 62 60 3/7/143/5/14 11:25 9:15 PMAM No33-Mag-GOLD.inddM mag 33.indd 63 62 3/7/143/5/14 11:22 9:16 PMAM ISSUE #33 MMUSICMAG.COM ISSUE #33 MMUSICMAG.COM MUSICIAN Bill Gallery; Jimmy Katz, inset At Berklee College of Music, Boston, 2007 ‘Concerts are generally more meaningful The New Gary Burton Quartet than clubs, where you’re always competing for an audience’s attention.’ TWO OF A KIND where you say, “That was a total waste of don’t want it to be taken the wrong way—I “The gigs I’ve done with Chick Corea over the time and I got out of there with my life.” As far haven’t found someone coming along to years are probably the top of the game for as favorite gigs, there are certain places I love challenge me, someone doing something me,” says Gary Burton.