Gary Burton

Born in 1943 and raised in Indiana, Gary Burton taught himself to play the vibraphone and, at the age of 17, made his recording debut in Nashville, Tennessee, with guitarists Hank Garland and Chet Atkins. Two years later, Burton left his studies at Berklee College of Music to join George Shearing and subsequently Stan Getz, with whom he worked from 1964-1966.

As a member of Getz's quartet, Burton won Down Beat magazine's Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition award in 1965. By the time he left Getz to form his own quartet in 1967, Burton had also recorded three albums under his name for RCA. Borrowing rhythms and sonorities from rock music, while maintaining jazz's emphasis on improvisation and harmonic complexity, Burton's first quartet attracted large audiences from both sides of the jazz-rock spectrum. Such albums as Duster and Lofty Fake Anagram established Burton and his band as progenitors of the jazz fusion phenomenon. Burton's burgeoning popularity was quickly validated by Down Beat magazine, which awarded him its Jazzman of the Year award in 1968. During his subsequent association with the label (1973-1988) the Burton Quartet expanded to include the young Pat Metheny on guitar, and the band began to explore a repertoire of modern compositions. In the '70s, Burton also began to focus on more intimate contexts for his music. His 1971 album Alone at Last, a solo vibraphone concert recorded at the 1971 Montreux Jazz Festival, was honored with a Grammy Award. Burton also turned to the rarely heard duo format, recording with bassist Steve Swallow, guitarist Ralph Towner, and most notably with pianist Chick Corea, thus cementing a long personal and professional relationship that has garnered an additional two Grammy Awards.

Also in the '70s, Burton began his career with Berklee College of Music in Boston. Burton began as a teacher of percussion and improvisation classes at Berklee in 1971. In 1985 he was named Dean of Curriculum. In 1989, he received an honorary doctorate of music from the college, and in 1996, he was appointed Executive Vice President.

Burton began recording for GRP records in the '80s and '90s. In 1990, he paired up again with his former protege Metheny for Reunion, which landed him the top spot on Billboard magazine's jazz chart. Burton is now recording for Concord Records. Departure (Gary Burton & Friends) was released in 1997 by Concord Records as well as Native Sense, a new duet collaboration with Chick Corea, which garnered a Grammy Award in 1998. Also in 1997, Burton recorded his second collection of tango music, Astor Piazzolla Reunion, featuring the top tango musicians of Argentina, followed by Libertango in 2000, another collection of Piazzolla music. His 1998 Concord release, Like Minds, an all-star hit featuring his frequent collaborators Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Roy Haynes, and Dave Holland, was honored with a Grammy win, Burton's fifth. Gary's vibraphone tribute CD, For Hamp, Red, Bags and Cal, was released in March 2001 on Concord and garnered Gary's 12th Grammy nomination. His most recent release in 2002 is a unique project with Makoto Ozone, his pianist collaborator of the past twenty years. In Virtuosi the pair explore the improvisational possibilities of classical themes including works by Brahms, Scarlatti, Ravel, Barber and others. In an unusual move, the Recording Academy nominated Virtuosi in the classical category of the Grammy awards, a unique honor for Gary.

Your Favorite Jazz Vibraphonists

by Michael Ricci
June 28, 2024

Member votes were tabulated and this list represents our favorite jazz vibraphonists. Fully transparent and easily verifiable, All About Jazz's favorite vibraphonists poll was conducted during the 2023-2024 calendar year and ran up through June 27, 2024. We want to thank every member who participated in creating this impressive list (100 total!) for the next generation of jazz enthusiasts to discover. 1Gary Burton2Milt Jackson3Bobby Hutcherson4Lionel Hampton5Joe Locke6Cal Tjader7Stefon Harris8Mike Mainieri9Warren Wolf10Steve Nelson11Marco Pacassoni12Roy Ayers13Walt Dickerson14Joel Ross15Red Norvo16Terry ...

Interview

Gary Burton: On ECM & Playing With Pat Metheny

by Mark Sullivan
September 18, 2015

Vibraphonist Gary Burton was a busy man at the 2015 Detroit Jazz Festival. He was a member of the Mack Avenue Superband (organized by Mack Avenue Records, his current record label), and joined Artist-in-Residence Pat Metheny for two shows. The Pat Metheny/Gary Burton Quartet Reunion took place on Saturday night, and the North American premiere of Metheny's “Hommage" for Eberhard Weber for soloists and big band closed the festival on Monday night. This interview took place backstage just before the ...

Extended Analysis

Eberhard Weber: Hommage à Eberhard Weber

by John Kelman
September 4, 2015

Despite being waylaid from playing the instrument that defined his approach to both performance and composition by a severe 2007 stroke, Eberhard Weber has managed to accomplish the seemingly impossible feat of continuing to make recordings that revolve around his instantly recognizable, custom-made electro-acoustic instrument: 2013's Resumé and 2015's appropriately titled Encore, both on ECM Records, the label that's been home to the bassist, composer and occasional bandleader since Colours of Chloë (1974), his award-winning leader debut. Now, it's true ...

Interview

Gary Burton: A Lifetime of Collaborations

by Chris M. Slawecki
March 28, 2015

This interview was first published at All About Jazz in April 1999. Vibraphonist, composer and teacher, Gary Burton was among the first modern jazz musicians to come out of the fertile American Midwestern musical ground from which Pat Metheny and others later grew. Born in Anderson, Indiana, Burton began his professional career while still a teenager, supporting country guitarist Hank Garland. He began to blossom as a solo artist in the early 1960s as one of the first ...

Interview

Gary Burton: The Art of Listening

by Mike Brannon
March 28, 2015

This article was originally published at All About Jazz in February 2001. If you had to choose one living musician who has pioneered the current state and techniques of his instrument, championed jazz education and performed with most of the current crop of established, contemporary jazz artists (Chick, Metheny, Jarrett, Herbie) plus has 'discovered' and been instrumental in bringing up new leaders in his own bands (Metheny, Makoto Ozone, Tommy Smith, etc), that would be Gary Burton.

Interview

"Thousands of Bouquets": An Interview with Gary Burton on Jazz and Japan

by Wayne Zade
March 28, 2015

This article was originally published at All About Jazz in May 2000 as part of a “Jazz and Japan" interview series. All About Jazz: What do you remember about your first trip to play in Japan? Gary Burton: I was 19 years old, playing with George Shearing. We spent five weeks in Japan playing in about five different cities. I had a lot of days off, so I explored Tokyo, Osaka, etc., and began to learn ...

Extended Analysis

Seven Songs for Quartet and Chamber Orchestra

by John Kelman
February 27, 2014

While there is still a handful of ECM titles from vibraphonist Gary Burton that remain unreleased on CD, perhaps the most unique of the bunch is Seven Songs for Quartet and Chamber Orchestra, originally issued by the German label in 1974 and the first of two collaborations with Zimbabwe-born, British-resident composer/pianist/trombonist Michael Gibbs. The similarly intriguing In the Public Interest (Polydor, 1974) is a more conventionally configured large ensemble with horns, reeds, piano, bass and drums; Seven Songs, on the ...

Interview

Gary Burton on Larry Bunker

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 6, 2019

As one of Hollywood's most in-demand percussionists, Larry Bunker recorded hundreds of jazz and soundtrack albums. But always as a sideman. Remarkably, Bunker recorded just one album as a leader: Larry Bunker Quartette: Live at Shelly's Manne-Hole, in December 1963. Recorded first and then picked up by the Vault label in Los Angeles in 1965, the album featured Gary Burton (vib), Mike Wofford (p), Bob West (b) and Larry Bunker (d). The sound of these four musicians playing together is ...
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Music Industry

Gary Burton on Brad McCuen

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
January 9, 2019

Yesterday, I posted on Eddie “Lockjaw" Davis and Paul Gonsalves's 1968 album Love Calls. I noted that the recording along with two other RCA gems by Davis in the late 1960s were produced by Brad McCuen. Then I provided some bio information about McCuen and mentioned that he had produced eight of vibraphonist Gary Burton's superb albums from that same period. The list includes Duster, a groundbreaking album from 1966. After my post went up, I received an email from ...
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Recording

Gary Burton: Something's Coming

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
April 25, 2016

Vibraphonist Gary Burton has had an extraordinary career. The four-mallet pioneer and jazz-fusion trailblazer has won seven Grammys and continues to make superb music in the States and abroad. I've always been fond of his 1960s recordings. Through these albums, you can hear jazz transition in the hands of one young artist, shifting from jazz-pop (Groovy Sound of Music) to jazz-samba (with Stan Getz), jazz-pop rock (Time Machine), jazz-country (Tennessee Firebird), Latin-jazz with George Shearing, jazz-fusion (Duster) and beyond. One ...
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Education

Music Education Monday: A master class in improvisation with Gary Burton

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
March 8, 2016

Regarded as one of the most significant and versatile jazz musicians ever to play his chosen instrument, vibraphonist Gary Burton has been an important figure in improvised music since the early 1960s. Now 73 years old, Burton is a multiple Grammy award winner known for his innovative four-mallet technique, his pioneering albums fusing jazz with rock and other popular musics, and for hiring as sidemen a series of guitarists who have gone on to greater fame, including Larry Coryell, Mick ...
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Event

Gary Burton, Fred Hersch, Vadim Neselovskyi Trio, Pletenitsa To Perform Concert For The Ukrainian People June 10 At Berklee

Source: Berklee Media Relations
May 30, 2015

Boston, MA. - 2015—Grammy-winning vibraphonist Gary Burton, jazz pianist and composer Fred Hersch, and others will perform a concert of Ukrainian folk music as an expression of solidarity with Ukrainian refugees Wednesday, June 10, at the Berklee Performance Center. Organized by Burton’s former pianist, Odessa, Ukraine native, and Berklee faculty member Vadim Neselovskyi, Concert for the Ukrainian People will feature a program of traditional Ukrainian folk songs alongside Neselovskyi’s original compositions. Drummer Ronen Itzik, bassist Daniel Loomis, and the Berklee ...
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Education

Music Education Monday: Free Play-Along recordings, and a free class from Gary Burton

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
January 5, 2015

It's time for another “Music Education Monday," the feature in which each week, we point to resources on the web that may be of particular interest to musicians, music students, and/or anyone who wants to understand the process of playing jazz. This week, we spotlight a couple of links related to improvisation, starting with a page from the National Jazz Workshop offering a set of free play-along recordings in MP3 format. The NJW is a summer camp held on the ...
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Contest

Enter the "Gary Burton - Guided Tour" Giveaway at All About Jazz!

Source: All About Jazz
September 15, 2013

All About Jazz members are invited to enter the Mack Avenue Records “Gary Burton - Guided Tour“ giveaway contest starting today. We'll select FIVE winners at the conclusion of the contest on October 14th. Click here to enter the contest

(Becoming a fan of Gary Burton at AAJ automatically enters you in the contest.)

Good luck! Your Friends at Mack Avenue Records About Guided Tour

On Guided Tour, jazz’s most innovative and accomplished vibraphonist proves that The New ...
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Performance / Tour

Critcally Acclaimed Jazz Vibraphonist Gary Burton Launches the Annenberg Center's 13/14 Jazz Series

Source: AAJ Staff
August 28, 2013

Critically acclaimed jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton launches the Annenberg Center’s 13/14 jazz series (Philadelphia, PA: Seven-time Grammy Award-winning jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton commences the 13/14 jazz series at the Annenberg Center with a joyful birthday celebration. Hailed as an innovative musical giant that “makes jazz one of the gifts from God” (Jazz Weekly), Gary Burton is internationally recognized for his iconic jazz-rock sound and prodigious 50-plus-year career. Burton will be joined by Julian Lage on guitar, Antonio Sanchez on drums ...
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Interview

Gary Burton on Music (Pt. 2)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 27, 2013

Gary Burton started out in 1960 with Hank Garland, combining jazz vibes with country guitar. Then he was in the thick of the bossa nova movement with Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto in 1964. In 1967 he released Duster, one of the first jazz-rock fusion albums and continued those explorations with Country Roads & Other Places (1968), Throb (1969) and Ring (1974). Through the '80s and '90s there were pairings with Chick Corea, Ahmad Jamal, Ralph Towner, Astor Piazzolla, Pat ...
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Education

Jazz Legend Gary Burton Partners with Berkleemusic.com to Teach Jazz Improvisation Online

Source: Michael Ricci
December 14, 2011

New Online Course “Gary Burton: Jazz Improvisation" launches on January 9th, 2012 Boston, MA: Berkleemusic.com, the online school of Boston's renowned Berklee College of Music, is unveiling an exclusive new online course with jazz legend, Grammy-award winning artist, and Berklee alum, Gary Burton. “Gary Burton: Jazz Improvisation" provides an unprecedented opportunity for musicians from across the world to learn the techniques and mental process that takes place in improvising directly from one of the greatest living jazz improvisers, who is ...
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