Gary Burton, Learning to Listen: The Jazz Journey of Gary Burton (Berklee, $27.99 paper). A great jazzman tells his fascinating story with appealingly unselfconscious directness. It’s quite a tale: Burton, who ranks alongside Lionel Hampton, Milt Jackson, and Red Norvo as the most influential of all jazz vibraphonists, more or less invented fusion and is one of a handful of openly gay top-tier jazz soloists. He’s played alongside plenty of other heavy hitters, including George Shearing, Stan Getz, and Pat Metheny, and sketches their personalities as clearly and honestly as he does his own. One of the most readable jazz memoirs ever written (TT).
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
An ArtsJournal Blog