Gary Burton (born January 23, 1943) is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused him to be heralded as an innovator, and his sound and technique are widely imitated.Corley, Cheryl (May 8, 2004)
"Gary Burton Steps Down, Out: Jazz Vibraphonist Moves On After Three Decades at Berklee"
. ''NPR''. He is also known for pioneering fusion jazz and popularizing the duet format in jazz, as well as being a major figure in music education from his 30 years teaching at the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

Biography

Burton was born in Anderson, Indiana, United States. Beginning music at six years old, he mostly taught himself to play marimba and vibraphone. He began studying piano at age sixteen while finishing high school at Princeton Community High School in Princeton, Indiana (1956–60). He has cited jazz pianist Bill Evans as the inspiration for his approach to the

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

. Burton attended

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, in 1960–61 and the Stan Kenton Clinic at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

in 1960. He studied with Herb Pomeroy and soon befriended composer and arranger Michael Gibbs. After establishing his career during the 1960s, he returned to join the staff of Berklee from 1971 to 2004, serving first as professor, then dean, and executive vice president, during his last decade at the college. In 1989, Burton received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee. Early in his career, at the behest of Nashville saxophonist Boots Randolph, Burton moved to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

and recorded with several musicians from the area, including guitarist

Hank Garland Walter Louis Garland (November 11, 1930 – December 27, 2004), known professionally as Hank Garland, was an American guitarist and songwriter. He started as a country musician, played rock and roll as it became popular in the 1950s, and release ...

, pianist

Floyd Cramer Floyd Cramer (October 27, 1933 – December 31, 1997) was an American pianist who became famous for his use of melodic "whole-step" attacks. He was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His signatur ...

and guitarist

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), also known as "Mister Guitar" and "the Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson (musician), Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nash ...

. Burton toured the U.S. and Japan with pianist George Shearing.Yanow, Scott
"Gary Burton , Biography & History"
. ''AllMusic''. Retrieved December 25, 2017. Shearing asked Burton to write a whole album of compositions for him which were released as '' Out of the Woods'' in 1965. Burton described the album in his autobiography, ''Learning to Listen'', as his "most ambitious effort at composing and arranging". Burton played with saxophonist Stan Getz from 1964 to 1966. It was during this time that he appeared with the band in the movie '' Get Yourself a College Girl'', playing " Girl from Ipanema" with Astrud Gilberto. In 1967, he formed the Gary Burton Quartet with guitarist Larry Coryell, drummer Roy Haynes, and bassist Steve Swallow. Predating the jazz-rock fusion craze of the 1970s, the group's first album, '' Duster'', combined jazz,

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

, and rock. However, some of Burton's previous albums (notably '' Tennessee Firebird'' and ''

The Time Machine ''The Time Machine'' is an 1895 dystopian post-apocalyptic science fiction novella by H. G. Wells about a Victorian scientist known as the Time Traveller who travels to the year 802,701. The work is generally credited with the popularizati ...

'', both from 1966) had already shown his inclination toward such experimentation. After Coryell left the quartet in the late 1960s, Burton worked with guitarists Jerry Hahn, David Pritchard, Mick Goodrick,

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He was the leader of the Pat Metheny Group (1977–2010) and continues to work in various small-combo, duet, and solo settings, as well as other side pr ...

, John Scofield, Wolfgang Muthspiel,

Kurt Rosenwinkel Kurt Rosenwinkel (born October 28, 1970) is an American jazz guitarist, composer, bandleader, producer, educator, keyboardist and record label owner. Biography Born in Philadelphia to a musical family, Rosenwinkel began taking piano lessons when ...

, and Julian Lage. Burton was named ''

DownBeat ''DownBeat'' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm that it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1 ...

'' magazine's Jazzman of the Year in 1968 (the youngest to receive that title) and won his first Grammy Award in 1972. The following year Burton began a forty-year collaboration with pianist Chick Corea, recognized for popularizing the format of jazz duet performance. Their eight albums won Grammy Awards in 1979, 1981, 1997, 1999, 2009, and 2013. Burton has played with a wide variety of jazz musicians, including Gato Barbieri, Carla Bley, Chick Corea, Peter Erskine, Stan Getz,

, Stephane Grappelli,

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

Keith Jarrett Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945) is an American pianist and composer. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey and later moved on to play with Charles Lloyd (jazz musician), Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s, he has also be ...

, B. B. King, Steve Lacy,

, Makoto Ozone, Tiger Okoshi, Astor Piazzolla, Tommy Smith, Ralph Towner, and

Eberhard Weber Eberhard Weber is a German double bassist and composer. As a bass player, he is known for his highly distinctive tone and phrasing. Weber's compositions blend chamber jazz, European classical music, minimalism and ambient music, and are regarded ...

. Burton is known for his variation of traditional four-mallet grip which has come to be known as " Burton grip", and is popular among jazz vibraphonists, as well as some concert marimbists, including Pius Cheung and Evelyn Glennie. From 2004 to 2008, Burton hosted a weekly jazz radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio. In 2011, he released his first album for Mack Avenue Records, entitled ''Common Ground'', featuring the New Gary Burton Quartet (with Julian Lage, Scott Colley, and Antonio Sanchez). In 2013, the group released ''Guided Tour'', their second recording for Mack Avenue Records. Burton's autobiography, ''Learning to Listen'', was published by Berklee Press in August 2013 and was voted "Jazz Book of the Year" by the Jazz Journalists Association. Burton retired from performing in March 2017 following a farewell tour with pianist and longtime collaborator Makoto Ozone.

Personal life

Burton is openly gay. He was in a homosexual relationship by the 1980s, and he came out publicly in a 1994 radio interview with Terry Gross. In 2013, he married Jonathan Chong in

Provincetown, Massachusetts Provincetown () is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States census, Provi ...

.Gavin, James (2001)
Homophobia in Jazz
, Jazztimes.com. Retrieved April 17, 2012 Burton's current partner is Dustin Le.

Discography

As leader/co-leader

Compilations * ''Works'' (ECM, 1984) P* ''Collection'' (GRP, 1996) * ''Take Another Look. A Career Retrospective'' (Mack Avenue, 2018) LPref>

Collaborations

* ''Live from the Detroit Jazz Festival – 2013'' (Mack Avenue, 2014) – live rec. 2013 * '' Hommage à Eberhard Weber'' (ECM, 2015)

As sideman

With Thomas Clausen * ''Café Noir'' (Intermusic, 1991) * ''Flowers and Trees'' (MA Music, 1992) With

* '' After the Riot at Newport'' (RCA Victor, 1960) – released under the name The Nashville All-Stars * ''Jazz Winds from a New Direction'' (Columbia, 1961) – also released as Hank Garland & Gary Burton's ''Three-Four The Blues'' (CBS, 1961) * ''The Unforgettable Guitar of Hank Garland'' (Columbia, 1962) With Stan Getz * '' Getz Au Go Go'' ( Verve, 1964) * '' Nobody Else But Me'' (Verve, 1964) * '' Getz/Gilberto No. 2'' (Verve, 1966) * '' The Stan Getz Quartet in Paris'' (Verve, 1967) – live * ''The Canadian Concert of Stan Getz'' (Can-Am, 1983) With George Shearing * '' Jazz Concert'' ( Capitol, 1963) – live * '' Out of the Woods'' (Capitol, 1965) * '' Rare Form!'' (Capitol, 1966) – live With

* '' Fluid Rustle'' (ECM, 1979) * '' Hommage à Eberhard Weber'' (ECM, 2015) – live With others *

, '' After the Riot at Newport'' with the Nashville Allstars (RCA, 1960) – live * Bob Brookmeyer, '' Bob Brookmeyer and Friends'' ( Columbia, 1965) – rec. 1964 *

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

, ''

Journeyman A journeyman is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that field as a fully qualified employee ...

'' (Reprise, 1989) *

Bruce Cockburn Bruce Douglas Cockburn ( ; born May 27, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. His song styles range from folk to folk- and jazz-influenced rock to soundscapes accompanying spoken stories. His lyrics reflect interests in spirit ...

, ''The Charity of Night'' (True North, 1996) *

, ''Last Date'' (RCA Victor, 1960) * Eddie Daniels, ''Benny Rides Again'' ( GRP, 1992) *

Tim Hardin James Timothy Hardin (December 23, 1941 – December 29, 1980) was an American folk music and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. In addition to his own success, his songs " If I Were a Carpenter", " Reason to Believe", " Misty Roses" and " ...

, '' Tim Hardin 1'' (Verve, 1966) - rec. 1964-1965 *

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...

, ''

Quincy Jones Explores the Music of Henry Mancini ''Quincy Jones Explores the Music of Henry Mancini'' is an album by Quincy Jones that contains music composed by Henry Mancini. Track listing All music composed by Henry Mancini, lyricists indicated # "Baby Elephant Walk" – 2:49 # "Charade ( ...

'' ( Mercury, 1964) * k.d. lang, '' Ingénue'' ( Sire, 1992) * Livingston Taylor, '' There You Are Again'' (Coconut Bay, 2006) * Jay Leonhart, ''Four Duke'' (Absolute Spain, 1995) - rec. 1994 * Arif Mardin, '' Journey'' (Atlantic, 1974) - rec. 1973 * Howard Jones, '' One to One'' (Elektra, 1986) - rec. 1985 * Steve Swallow, ''

Swallow The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...

'' (Xtra Watt, 1992) - rec. 1991 * Jon Weber, '' Simple Complex'' (2nd Century Jazz, 2004) – rec. 2003

Grammy Awards

, - ,

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

, '' Alone at Last'' , , Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance by a Soloist , , - ,

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, ''

Duet A duet (italian language, Italian: ''duo'') is a musical composition for two Performing arts, performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a har ...

'' (with Chick Corea) , Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group , , - , 1982 , '' In Concert, Zürich, October 28, 1979'' (with Chick Corea) , Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group , , - ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, "Rhumbata", '' Native Sense'' (with Chick Corea) , Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo , , - ,

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, '' Like Minds'' (with Chick Corea,

, Roy Haynes and Dave Holland) , Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group , , - ,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, '' The New Crystal Silence'' (with Chick Corea) , Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance , , - ,

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, ''Hot House'' (with Chick Corea) , Grammy Award for Best Improvised Jazz Solo , , -

References

External links

BBC's profile on Gary Burton

Gary Burton Interview from the NAMM Oral History Library (2008)

Gary Burton Interview from the Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program
* YouTube
The Gary Burton Interview
by Rick Beato {{DEFAULTSORT:Burton, Gary 1943 births Living people American autobiographers American jazz composers American jazz vibraphonists American male jazz composers Avant-garde jazz musicians Berklee College of Music alumni Berklee College of Music faculty American gay musicians Grammy Award winners GRP All-Star Big Band members GRP Records artists ECM Records artists LGBTQ people from Indiana Mack Avenue Records artists Musicians from Anderson, Indiana 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American LGBTQ people NEA Jazz Masters

Biography

Personal life

Discography

As leader/co-leader

Collaborations

As sideman

Grammy Awards

See also

References

External links