 Gary Burton was born and raised in Indiana. He taught himself to play
the vibraphone, becoming a virtuoso as well as a major innovator on his
instrument having mastered the challenging four-mallet technique. Gary
studied at Boston’s Berklee College of Music then joined George Shearing
and subsequently Stan Getz. Burton's first quartet was a progenitor of
the jazz/rock fusion phenomenon. The Gary Burton Quartet expanded to
include guitarist Pat Metheny and the band began to explore a repertoire
of modern compositions.
Burton also has
focused on more intimate contexts for his music.
Alone at Last, a solo performance at the 1971
Montreux Jazz Festival, was honored with a Grammy Award, his first of 13
Grammy nominations and five awards. He also favors the duo format, which
he has pursued primarily with pianists Makoto Ozone and Chick Corea. His
current band, Next Generation, features his protégé, Julian Lage, a
teenage guitarist and composer of rare talent. Gary Burton records for
Concord Records.
In addition to a busy performance career, Mr Burton has
been continuously involved in education. In the 1971, Burton began his
faculty career at Berklee College of Music. In 1996 he was appointed
Executive Vice President, a position he held until his relocation
to South Florida in 2004. Mr Burton works
extensively from his home base in Fort Lauderdale
and serves as Artistic Advisor to South Florida JAZZ.
Makoto Ozone
(O-zo-nee) was born in Kobe, Japan in 1961, the product of a jazz
organist father. He was playing the organ by age two and improvising the
blues by age seven. It was a concert by the legendary Oscar Peterson
that compelled him to switch to the piano at the age of twelve.
Makoto came to
Boston in 1980 to study at the Berklee College of Music, where Gary
Burton was a composition and percussion instructor. After graduation he
made his first American solo appearance in 1983 with a recital at
Carnegie Hall. The incredibly talented young man struck a record deal
with CBS, making his international debut in 1984 with the album OZONE.
His mentor Gary Burton invited him into his quartet and took him along
on a world tour. They have been collaborators in the duet format for two
decades and recorded the Grammy-nominated Virtuosi in 2002.
The versatile Mr
Ozone has hosted a TV series in Japan, ventured into electronica and
composed for and played with classical orchestras. In addition to
working with his own jazz trio from his home in New York, he continues
to perform in classically inspired phenomenal duets with vibist Gary
Burton.
|
Gary Burton
