Jazz Kat Posted June 21, 2007 Report Share Posted June 21, 2007 There's been some topics that have related to Burton, but not a thread devoted to all his music. I would just like to start that, I have not always been a Gary Burton fan. This goes to about 7 or 8 years ago when I didn't like fusion, or anything that wasn't on the Blue Note label. I heard a late 80's album, and didn't like it. I first got into Burton when the New Generation album came out in 2004. After hearing that, I bought Passengers from ECM. (I now think it's my favorite album of all time) The Whopper is such a great tune! Anyway, I also bought Country Roads, which I am converting to CD right now. It's really a great album. I also have Like Minds which I think is at least one of the top ten best albums of all time. Metheny, Burton, and Haynes are my favorites on their instruments. My next Burton album is going to be The New Quartet. I also think I'm going to look into some of his earlier stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Moments Posted June 21, 2007 Report Share Posted June 21, 2007 this one is excellent!!!: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted June 21, 2007 Report Share Posted June 21, 2007 A Genuine Tong Funeral Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz Kat Posted June 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2007 (edited) I think his first albums were straight ahead, then started going more toward country music? What does Genuine Tong Funeral sound like? Edited June 21, 2007 by Jazz Kat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted June 21, 2007 Report Share Posted June 21, 2007 These two duet dates with Chick Corea are interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 Those duets are fine; I think i prefer the live recording. Actually, most of his ECMs are very good. I have a particular fondness for Times Square, with Tiger Akoshi, and Real Life Hits. I've more recently gotten into some of his Atlantics, like Throb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gslade Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 (edited) Look for this one with Getz (early stuff)*edit Nobody Else but Me Edited June 22, 2007 by gslade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 (edited) Those duets are fine; I think i prefer the live recording. Actually, most of his ECMs are very good. I have a particular fondness for Times Square, with Tiger Akoshi, and Real Life Hits. I've more recently gotten into some of his Atlantics, like Throb. Note I said "two duets". I included a pic of the live date but it is gone now. Now it's back! WTF! Edited June 22, 2007 by Chuck Nessa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest donald petersen Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 i just relistened to throb and the atlantic album with jarrett last night. they are both good but...on throb i love the mike gibbs tunes but something about the overall approach didn't quite work for me. maybe the tracks are too short. the jarrett one has a song also on times square which is better on this earlier album. they are both good but something about when burton and swallow get together-it can be too tight for me sometimes. i guess that is what swallows e-bass is about...sort of too tight for me. i didn't care for the live one from the late 60s...nor did i like tong funeral (too many short little blurts of songs) or lofty fake anagram, which was ok...i think the duster was the best of this bunch (probably due to haynes)...i didn't like country roads.. as much because of the solo tracks. and also the overall brevity of the better tracks. though i guess this was a nature of the label and the time period. on all these albums i wish there had been less but more developed tracks but this was atlantic, not blue note. passengers is cool but has a little cheese, which would be expected. it's funny having both swallow and eberhard weber aboard on twin basses because neither of them really fulfill the role i would want out of a bassist....i do prefer weber, though. ring is a cool album. i think i like it more than passengers. the album of carla bley tunes which for some reason i am blanking on the name of is also good though i think i like the twin bass attack more than the twin guitar attack. and this is an album that would have benefited from being on a label with a less clean sound. same with the new quartet album. but that one is anamolous with a weird group of musicians-abe laboriel??? but i like it a lot. it could be grittier also...but it's fun. especially "open your eyes, you can fly". there are some decent ones not on CD-like the one with the brown cover. they do all mostly sound too clean and too tight. real life hits especially is too tightt and clean. whiz kids i think too. there is a random one i have called "in (or for) the public interest"...or is that a gibbs album featuring burton? it's decent. but if you like the 80s GRP stuff i guess you might enjoy the tight cleanness of the ECMs. its not always a bad thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe G Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 the album of carla bley tunes which for some reason i am blanking on the name of is also good Dreams So Real? I like that one quite a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 (edited) After hearing that, I bought Passengers from ECM. (I now think it's my favorite album of all time). (and kudos to all other ECMs above - aren't there still a couple later ones that have never come out on CD?) Edited June 22, 2007 by Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest donald petersen Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 if you see frank riciotti's "our point of view" you might check it out and consider it a more vigorous version of some of burton's late 60s early 70s stuff. except riciotti puts down the vibes and picks up a sax for the longest track, which i don't get.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.:.impossible Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 the album of carla bley tunes which for some reason i am blanking on the name of is also good Dreams So Real? I like that one quite a bit. That's a good one. You are a Metheny fan right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 the album of carla bley tunes which for some reason i am blanking on the name of is also good Dreams So Real? I like that one quite a bit. Carla Bley wrote all of the music on Genuine Tong Funeral. My copy also has 5 tracks from Lofty Fake Anagram. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fent99 Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 I've always liked Burton. First person I ever saw playing the vibes in the flesh and in duet with Chick Corea turned me into a fan. Lots of his stuff is a bit soft and clean (his aesthetic and his labels maybe) Quite like the RCA stuff since its pretty varied and have a couple of albums Tenessee Firebird, Genuine Tong Funeral and a couple of compilations all of which get dug out from time to time (Needs a comprehensive reissue program on cd since I'd love to hear Duster and Country Roads in their entirity) I have a few ECMs and other than the Corea duets already mentioned I quite like the ones with Towner which are very soft centered but have some lovely moments. Real Life Hits isn't bad (more Bley tunes) but the clean sound flttens out some of the interest. Right Place, Right Time with Paul Bley has some great moments and a tremendous reading of Ida Lupino (a composition I'd buy any album for). List of albums here: http://www.garyburton.com/discog.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Weil Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 (edited) Historically Burton is important as one of the prime progenitors of fusion. He's had loads of interesting musicians of that ilk pass through his bands -e.g. Coryell, Metheny (who basically got his start with Burton). I think you've got to give it to him for that. Whether you think any of his albums are particularly outstanding is another thing. I personally really like his Jazz-country light fusion aesthetic (those 60s-early 70s RCAs) which then morphs into something more heavy as the 70s goes on (and he joins ECM). I'm not such a fan of his duet (I only know Crystal Silence) and have not been terribly moved by his non-fusion stuff. A lot of stuff Donald Petersen says I agree with, and a lot I don't. I think the thing that doesn't work on Throb is the guitarist - Burton has generally been very lucky with guitarists (see above), but also with bassists (Swallow's rubberised thing is amazing). In the Public Interest is a Gibbs record with Burton soloing - and maybe my favourite Gibbs. I think the New Quartet record is real fun. I don't much like the live RCA record either, but apart from that you can pick or choose from amongst 60s and 70s records DP mentions and not go that far wrong - though, as I say, the aesthetic morphs. I suppose, looking at this, Burtons RCA's have to be one of the core sources for Bill Frisell's country-fusion aesthetic - also not liked by some (many?). In short, I think Burton's real achievement is in fusion. Simon Weil Edited June 22, 2007 by Simon Weil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rostasi Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 Nice guy and patient teacher. Some early favs: w/Goodrick and Laboriel. Always thought that the drumming was a bit lackluster on this, but, hey, it's ECM: of course, a classic that still holds up: Nice duet album with the both of them switching around on different instruments: Great stuff here that, at one moment swings, another moment is achingly beautiful, etc: Amazing solo LP that'll leave yer jaw in dropped position. The version of Chega de Saudade is worth it alone. Countrified! Chet Atkins and Buddy Spicher are on this. Would've liked more Buddy Emmons tho, but still a real fun one! there are a few more out there worth having. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest donald petersen Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 i forgot about hotel hello! that's a good swallow performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeform83 Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 I think his first albums were straight ahead, then started going more toward country music? What does Genuine Tong Funeral sound like? Weird. There is an unsual emphasis on German oom-pah/Weimar cabaret sounds, and a lot of avant-garde touches. Gato seems to solo more than Burton. I just listened to this a couple of weeks ago and recall Burton being absent from some of the tracks. My bottom-line impression is one of disappointment. The album DOES NOT live up to its title -- surely one of the coolest titles I have ever heard -- as a conceptual or programatic piece depicting a Tong funeral. The tunes screams "interwar Europe" or "experimental jazz" but never "Tong." I can't imagine too many other Burton albums sounding like this. Alas, this is the only one I own, and I bought it used (from an unlikely place) -- because of the title. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rostasi Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 "...I was in the realm of the essence of Tong..." ---Mark E. Smith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest donald petersen Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 (edited) i too found "tong funeral" disappointing, as i said earlier. though i guess it is much a carla bley album as it is a burton album....so maybe it should be judged as so. i think the bley cover (s) on "hotel hello" work best. the duo setting working well with the ECMnish. i guess this might be why people also enjoy the corea duos... rostasi-as far as the drummers...it seemed like burton had a preference for i guess were they students from berkee being his drummers in the 70s? mike hymen? harry blazer? i've never heard of these guys otherwise and they don't do anything particularly fantastic-i agree. i know a lot of the musicians were berklee guys, but the drummers seemed to be no-namers compared to people like tiger okoshi or martin smith. Edited June 22, 2007 by donald petersen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Ptah Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 (edited) For some reason I have seen Gary Burton live more than almost any other musician, from 1976 on. He just seems to appear in every city I live in, frequently. Apart from everything else, he plays hot solos live. He swings and gets intense in his improvisations. No matter what you think of his bands or arrangements, he is an excellent jazz soloist. Burton's current band is much more of a mainstream jazz ensemble than his earlier fusion efforts. No one has mentioned his tango albums in the 1990s, which I think are interesting and are the type of thing that were probably not a great career move at his age, and which must have taken him out of a musical comfort zone. Also, when the 1970s ECMs are mentioned, "Matchbook" with Ralph Towner has some successful cuts. I have read that Carla Bley did not like the "Genuine Tong Funeral" album, that she thought that the musicians had taken all of the songs at the wrong tempo and misunderstood her intent in composing the music. Edited June 22, 2007 by Hot Ptah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rostasi Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 Yup, Harry Blazer's on the New Quartet recording. In the 70's, I once had a hairy blazer, but that's another story... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest donald petersen Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 i guess i like burton as an interpreter of michael gibbs a lot more than as an interpreter of carla bley. i like burton more than gibbs himself, actually, as an interpreter of gibbs tunes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Weil Posted June 22, 2007 Report Share Posted June 22, 2007 (edited) i guess i like burton as an interpreter of michael gibbs a lot more than as an interpreter of carla bley. But, then, I'm not such a great fan of Carla Bley. Genuine Tong Funeral is not a record I like, but I do think (or maybe sense) that it works, has content, whatever. I keep feeling I'm missing the point with Bley. I'm with Freeform83 apart from that. i like burton more than gibbs himself, actually, as an interpreter of gibbs tunes. I like Gibbs. But, yeah I think you are right - Burton interprets Gibbs better. Simon Weil Edited June 22, 2007 by Simon Weil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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