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Vibraphonist keys up old jazz sound

By John Mangum

When people think of jazz instruments, they think of the trumpet, the saxophone and the piano. Way down there on the list the vibraphone eventually turns up.

Audiences get a rare chance to hear Gary Burton, a leading jazz musician and important proponent of the vibraphone, when he appears with his quartet this weekend. His instrument resembles a xylophone, but metal keys and an electrical amplification system that allows the player to control vibrato separate it from its older brother.

"It was invented in the '20s," says Burton. "The first couple of players switched from the piano." Burton, though, began playing the marimba, which, like the vibraphone, reinforces its sound with resonators underneath its bars.

"When I was six years old, my parents wanted all of the kids in the family to play a different instrument," says Burton. His sister had already claimed the piano, so Burton ventured out to look for something else to play.

"(My parents) took me around to see various concerts," recalls Burton. "One of these was a marimba concert, so this was what I started on."

"I kept experimenting with other instruments, and I would dearly have liked to have played one that was easier to carry." This experimentation resulted in Burton's revolutionary playing style, which utilizes four mallets instead of the traditional two. This allows him not just to create a melody, but to combine individual notes to form chords.

"Four mallets wasn't absolutely unheard of before I came along," says Burton. "I didn't have any other musicians to play with. I needed harmony to fill the music in. What had seemed like an impossibility technically turned out not to be as hard as it seemed."

This style of playing, which brings the vibraphone closer to the piano, led Burton from his early admiration of clarinettist Benny Goodman to a feeling of kinship with keyboard, rather than vibraphone, players.

"The first record I ever heard was a Benny Goodman record, and I was quite amazed at all of the energy and what was going on on that record," says Burton. "My biggest influence during my formative years was pianist Bill Evans."

In addition to Goodman and Evans, Burton admires many vocalists. "I've always been an admirer of jazz singers," says the vibraphonist.

"Sarah Vaughan, Nat Cole ­ they've been a big influence on me. The way they phrase vocally is something I've tried to capture."

Jazz vocalist Rebecca Parris joins the Gary Burton Quartet to open UCLA's Jazz Series at the Wadsworth Theater Saturday, Oct. 29 at 8 p.m. Recognized for her diverse abilities, Parris recently collaborated with Burton on his latest album, It's Another Day.

The Quartet appears Saturday night as part of a tour which features work from this recent album. The Christopher Hollyday Quartet, led by the young sax player, opens for Burton's group. Pianist Makoto Ozone, a major star in Japan and familiar to American audiences as well, joins the group on this occasion.

Burton enjoys working with Ozone, whose talent he praises, and Parris as well. He describes the recording with her as "a project I've always wanted to try."

"In my case," says Burton, "I was looking forward to the challenge of interweaving my playing with her singing. I happened to hear Rebecca singing a couple of years ago, and all through it, I kept imagining what it would be like to play behind her."

Burton seems interested in challenges and innovation. Some commentators believe that jazz, with the increasing attention young artists give to standards from the '50s and '60s, is regressing, but Burton disagrees.

"I do not think it's regressing. Art forms don't go backwards, they only go forward," says Burton.

"Music as a whole will ultimately continue to evolve," says Burton, "because all art forms do. I've been a little bit surprised with the revivals of standards."

"Even though there are some standards on the record with Rebecca, we do them in a different style. There's room for every approach."

CONCERT: Gary Burton Quartet featuring vocalist Rebecca Parris and pianist Makoto Ozone. At the Wadsworth Theater, Saturday, Oct. 29, 8 p.m. TIX: $25, $9. For more info, call (310) 825-2101.

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