Gary Burton (b. January 23, 1943, Anderson, Indiana) is an American jazz vibraphonist.
A true original on the vibraphone, Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the usual two-mallets. This approach caused Burton to be heralded as an innovator and his sound and technique are widely imitated. He is also known for pioneering fusion jazz and popularizing the duet format in jazz, as well as being a major figure in jazz education.
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Beginning music at six years old, Burton for the most part taught himself to play marimba and vibraphone. He also began studying piano at age sixteen as he finished high school in Princeton, IN (56-60). Burton has cited jazz pianist Bill Evans as a main inspiration for his approach toward the vibraphone.
Burton attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston in 1960-61. He studied with Herb Pomeroy and soon befriended the composer and arranger Michael Gibbs. After establishing his career during the 1960s, he returned to join the staff of Berklee from 1971-2004, serving first as Professor, then Dean and finally as Executive Vice President during his last decade at the college.
Early in his career, at the behest of noted Nashville saxophonist Boots Randolph, Burton moved to Nashville and recorded with several notable Nashville musicians including guitarist Hank Garland, pianist Floyd Cramer and guitarist Chet Atkins.
After touring both the U.S. and Japan with pianist George Shearing in 1963, Burton went on to play with saxophonist Stan Getz from 1964-1966. In 1967 he formed the Gary Burton Quartet along with guitarist Larry Coryell, drummer Roy Haynes, and bassist Steve Swallow. Predating the jazz-rock fusion craze of the 1970s, the group's first record, Duster, combined jazz, country and rock and roll elements. However, some of Burton's previous albums (notably Tennessee Firebird and Time Machine, both from 1966) had already shown his inclination toward such experimentation with different genres of popular music. After Coryell left the quartet in the late-1960s, Burton hired a number of well-regarded guitarists: Jerry Hahn, David Pritchard, Mick Goodrick, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and most recently Julian Lage, who played guitar in Burton's group Next Generation.
After being named Downbeat Magazine's Jazzman of the Year in 1968 (the youngest ever to receive the title) and winning his first Grammy award in 1972, Burton began a now 36 year-long collaboration with pianist Chick Corea, recognized for popularizing the format of jazz duet performance. Their half dozen recordings won the pair Grammy awards in years 1979, 1981, 1997, 1999, and most recently in 2009, for "The New Crystal Silence."
Burton has played with a variety of well-known jazz musicians, including Carla Bley, Gato Barbieri, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Steve Lacy, Pat Metheny, Makoto Ozone, Adam Nussbaum, Tiger Okoshi, Stan Getz, Herbie Hancock, B.B. King, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Tommy Smith, Eberhard Weber, Stephane Grappelli and tango legend Ástor Piazzolla, to name just a few.
FAMILY HISTORY: Following an early marriage in his 20's, Burton married for a second time in 1975 to Catherine Goldwyn, granddaughter of movie legend Samuel Goldwyn. Together for nearly a decade, the couple had two children, a daughter Stephanie born in '78, and a son, Sam, in '80. In the mid-80's, Burton came out as a gay man during a radio interview on Terri Gross's "Fresh Air" radio show on NPR. For the past five years, he has lived in Florida with his life partner, Jonathan Chong,
Recent activity: From 2004-2008 Burton hosted a weekly jazz radio show on on Sirius Satellite Radio. From September 2006 - April 2008, Burton toured worldwide with Chick Corea celebrating 35 years of working together. Most recently Burton has toured and recorded with Pat Metheny, Steve Swallow, and Antonio Sanchez (The Gary Burton Quartet Revisited), reprising music from the 70's era of Burton's group.
Burton's available recordings, as of 2009, are mainly those from Atlantic Records, ECM Records, GRP Records and the Concord Jazz label, his current record company.
Over the years, Gary Burton has been nominated for 15 Grammy Awards and he has won 6:
| Year | Award | Album/song |
|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Best Jazz Performance by a Soloist | Alone at Last |
| 1979 | Best jazz instrumental performance, group | Duet (with Chick Corea) |
| 1982 | Best jazz instrumental performance, group | In Concert, Zürich, October 28, 1979 (with Chick Corea) |
| 1998 | Best instrumental solo | "Rhumbata", Native Sense (with Chick Corea) |
| 2000 | Best jazz instrumental performance | Like Minds (with Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Roy Haynes and Dave Holland) |
| 2009 | Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Jazz Album, Individual or Group|Best jazz instrumental performance | "The New Crystal Silence" (with Chick Corea) |
   | BBC's profile on Gary Burton - BBC - Radio 3 Jazz Profiles - Gary Burton |
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