Along with Bobby Hutcherson, Gary Burton brought the vibraphone into the modern jazz world. His four mallet style created a unique sound, making one feel like there were two players at once. This four disc collection brings together his early trend-setting albums from RCA.
1961’s debut had him in trio format with Gene Cherico/b and Dave Brubeck’s Joe Morello/dr, bopping with aplomb on “Joy Spring” and “You Stepped Out of a Dream”. Next year, his sophomore session has him leading a septet that includes Clark Terry/fyh, Phil Woods/as, Chris Swansen/tbn, John Neves/b and Tommy Flanagan/p for a classy take of “My Funny Valentine” and a supercharged “One Note”. 1963 has Burton releasing a pair of albums, one with a fairly free form collection of Sonny Rollins/ts, Don Cherry/ct, Henry Grimes/b and Billy Higgins/dr for some creative workings on “You Are My Lucky Star” and “I Could Write A Book”, and the other with Jim Hall/g, Chuck Israels/b and Larry Bunker/dr sounding cool and collected on ”Little Girl Blue” and “Careful”.
The soundtrack The Sound Of Music is interpreted by Burton’s 1964 team of Bob Brookmeyer/vtb, Ed Shaughnessy-Joseph Hart/dr, Joe Puma/g, Steve Swallow/b and Phil Woods/as-cl for a swinging “My Favorite Things” and a “Maria” featuring Woods on a burning clarinet. Burton in 1966 starts mixing jazz with country rhythms, creating an early “fusion” album with Nashville session musicians like Charlie McCoy/b, Chet Atkins/g and Buddy Emmons/stg, giving a hootenanny feel to “T ennesee Firebird” and “Gone”. He goes a step further, overdubbing piano and marimbas on his next release with Swallow and Bunker for some adventurous takes of “Norewegian Wood” and “No More Blues”. Burton embraces rock and roll on his 1967 album, bringing together electric guitarist Larry Coryell with Roy Haynes/dr and Swallow for a delightful “Sweet Rain” and galloping “One, Tow, 1-2-3-4”. Good vibes in various incarnations.