Gary Burton was born on January 23,1943 and is an American jazz vibraphonist, composer, and educator.
16 Facts About Gary Burton
2.
Gary Burton is 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.
3.
Gary Burton began studying piano at age sixteen while finishing high school at Princeton Community High School in Princeton, Indiana.
4.
Gary Burton has cited jazz pianist Bill Evans as the inspiration for his approach to the vibraphone.
5.
Gary Burton studied with Herb Pomeroy and soon befriended composer and arranger Michael Gibbs.
6.
In 1989, Gary Burton received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee.
7.
Early in his career, at the behest of Nashville saxophonist Boots Randolph, Gary Burton moved to Nashville, Tennessee and recorded with several musicians from the area, including guitarist Hank Garland, pianist Floyd Cramer and guitarist Chet Atkins.
8.
Gary Burton toured the US and Japan with pianist George Shearing.
9.
Shearing asked Gary Burton to write a whole album of compositions for him which were released as Out of the Woods in 1965.
10.
Gary Burton described the album in his autobiography, Learning to Listen, as his "most ambitious effort at composing and arranging".
11.
Gary Burton played with saxophonist Stan Getz from 1964 to 1966.
12.
Gary Burton was named DownBeat magazine's Jazzman of the Year in 1968 and won his first Grammy Award in 1972.
13.
Gary Burton is known for his variation of traditional four-mallet grip which has come to be known as "Gary Burton Grip," and is popular among jazz vibraphonists, as well as some concert marimbists, including Pius Cheung and Evelyn Glennie.
14.
From 2004 to 2008, Gary Burton hosted a weekly jazz radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio.
15.
Gary 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.
16.
Gary Burton retired from performing in March 2017 following a farewell tour with pianist and longtime collaborator Makoto Ozone.