Abraham Augustus Burton Jr. (born March 17, 1971) is an American saxophonist and bandleader.

Biography

Burton was born in New York City on March 17, 1971, and was raised in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

. He studied at the Hartt School from 1989 to 1993, graduating in music. His teachers there included

Michael Carvin Michael Wayne Carvin (born December 12, 1944) is an American jazz drummer. Biography Born in Houston, Texas, Carvin began his musical training at the age of six with his father, one of the top drummers in Houston. By the age of twelve, Carvin b ...

and

Jackie McLean John Lenwood "Jackie" McLean (May 17, 1931 – March 31, 2006) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and educator, and is one of the few musicians to be elected to the ''DownBeat'' Hall of Fame in the year of their dea ...

. During the early 1990s he played with

Nat Reeves Nat Reeves (born 1955 in Lynchburg, Virginia) is an American jazz bassist. He resides in Hartford, Connecticut, and teaches at The Hartt School of the University of Hartford. He also performs internationally with a number of jazz artists. As a ...

' band, and from 1991 to 1995 he performed with

Art Taylor Arthur S. Taylor Jr. (April 6, 1929 – February 6, 1995) was an American jazz drummer, who "helped define the sound of modern jazz drumming".Watrous, Peter (February 7, 1995)"Art Taylor, 65, Jazz Drummer Who Inspired Young Musicians" ''The Ne ...

's Wailers.*Gary W. Kennedy. "Burton, Abraham (Augustus, Jr.)", ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed October 11, 2015)
(subscription access)
/ref> In 1994 Burton formed his own band, known later as Forbidden Fruit, whose members at various times included pianists Marc Cary, Allan Palmer, and James Hurt, the double bass players Billy Johnson and Yosuke Inoue, and the drummer Eric McPherson. With that band he toured internationally and recorded several albums. His first recording as a leader was ''Closest to the Sun'', which was released by Enja Records in 1994. This was followed around two years later by ''The Magician'', also for Enja. In the late 1990s he also performed in ensembles led by

Louis Hayes Louis Hayes (born May 31, 1937) is an American jazz drummer and band leader. He was with McCoy Tyner's trio for more than three years. Since 1989 he has led his own band, and together with Vincent Herring formed the Cannonball Legacy Band. He ...

, Ali Jackson, and Santi DeBriano. For ''Cause and Effect'', released by Enja in 2000, Burton switched from alto to tenor saxophone. Burton is a faculty member at the Hartt School.

Playing style

Grove Grove may refer to: * Grove (nature), a small group of trees Places England *Grove, Buckinghamshire, a village * Grove, Dorset * Grove, Herefordshire * Grove, Kent * Grove, Nottinghamshire, a village * Grove, Oxfordshire, a village and civil ...

'' wrote: "Burton's most obvious influence is his mentor McLean, but elements drawn from the style of

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Born and rai ...

are also evident. His recordings reveal him to be a highly capable ballad player; on fast pieces he performs with an inspired level of controlled abandon."

Discography

As leader/co-leader

* ''Closest to the Sun'' (

Enja Enja Records is a German jazz record company and label based in Munich which was founded by jazz enthusiasts Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber in 1971. The label's first release was by Mal Waldron, and early releases included European and ...

, 1994) * ''The Magician'' (Enja, 1995) * ''Cause and Effect'' (Enja, 2000)

As sideman

With Lucian Ban * ''Mystery'' (Sunnyside, 2013) * ''Songs from Afar'' (Sunnyside, 2016) With

* ''Quintessential Lou'' (TCB, 1999) * ''The Candy Man'' (TCB, 2001) * ''The Time Keeper'' (18th & Vine 2009) * ''Return of the Jazz Communicators'' (Smoke Sessions, 2014) * ''Serenade for Horace'' (Blue Note, 2017) With Mingus Big Band * ''I Am Three'' (Sunnyside, 2005) * ''Live in Tokyo'' (Sunnyside, 2006) * ''

Mingus Big Band Live at Jazz Standard ''Live at Jazz Standard'' is an album by the Mingus Big Band that won the Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album in 2011. The album documents a concert at the Jazz Standard club in New York City on New Year's Eve, 2009. The concert and th ...

'' (2010) * ''Mingus Sings'' (Sunnyside, 2015) With

* ''Mr. A. T.'' (Enja, 1992) * ''Wailin' at the Vanguard'' (Verve, 1993) With Jack Walrath * ''Heavy Mirth'' (SteepleChase, 2010) * ''Forsooth!'' (SteepleChase, 2011) * ''To Hellas and Back'' (SteepleChase, 2013) * ''Unsafe at Any Speed'' (SteepleChase, 2015) With others * Steve Davis, ''For Real'' (Posi-Tone, 2014) * Santi Debriano, ''

Artistic License Artistic license (alongside more contextually-specific derivative terms such as poetic license, historical license, dramatic license, and narrative license) refers to deviation from fact or form for artistic purposes. It can include the alterat ...

'' (Savant, 2001) *

Duane Eubanks Duane Eubanks (born January 24, 1969 in Philadelphia) is an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist,Dusko Goykovich, ''Bebop City'' (Enja, 1995) * Ali Jackson, ''Groove@Jazz En Tete'' (Space Time, 2000) * Jimmy Smith, '' Damn!'' (Verve, 1995) *

Horace Tapscott Horace Elva Tapscott (April 6, 1934 – February 27, 1999) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He formed the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra (also known as P.A.P.A., or The Ark) in 1961 and led the ensemble through the 1990s. Early li ...

, ''

Aiee! The Phantom ''Aiee! The Phantom'' is an album by American jazz pianist/composer Horace Tapscott recorded in 1995 and released on the Arabesque label.1971 births Living people American bandleaders American jazz alto saxophonists American male saxophonists Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni University of Hartford Hartt School alumni Rutgers University alumni Jazz musicians from New York (state) 21st-century American saxophonists 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians