Gary Burton Retires Gracefully

Iconic jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton is currently on his last tour. We caught him at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston & he was brilliant performing with Makoto Ozone on piano. Burton has been recording & touring for over 50 years, resulting in 7 Grammy Awards & 15 Grammy nominations & countless awards from esteemed jazz publications. He has a long history with the Berklee College of Music in Boston spending 33 years at the school as instructor, Dean of Curriculum & Executive Vice President. Burton who helped revolutionize modern jazz took a very bold move in 1994 by coming out as gay in an NPR interview. Now that he’s retiring from the music scene he says that after playing every state & countless nations around the world over the last 50 years he’s looking forward to traveling now for his own enjoyment with his husband Jonathan Chong. Burton stated, “I’ve saved up almost three million frequent-flyer miles from all the travel. Our plan is to take a couple of vacations every year. I’m also very interested in gay issues. Never really had time to get involved in fundraising & advocacy & political issues with the gay community, but I’d like to.” Gary Burton will be appearing at Birdland in NYC March 7th to 11th & completing his final tour at The Jazz Kitchen in Indianapolis, Indiana on March 17th.
For More Info & Tix: garyburton.com
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