Gary Burton › Similar Artists

Michael Brecker - 80% match to Gary Burton

29 March 1949, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, d. 13 January 2007, New York City, New York, USA. Like many musicians of his generation, saxophonist Brecker was attracted in equal measure to R&B and the music of John Coltrane. In 1970, he left home for New York and joined his older brother Randy Brecker in the jazz rock band Dreams, led by drummer Billy Cobham. Subsequen Read more

Marc Johnson - 78% match to Gary Burton

21 October 1953, Omaha, Nebraska, USA. After studying at North Texas State University Johnson spent the greater part of a year on the road playing bass with Woody Herman’s big band. After this intensive learning experience, he auditioned in early 1978 as replacement for Eddie Gomez with the Bill Evans trio. Securing this job not only brought Johnson fulfilment of a drea Read more

Steps Ahead - 56% match to Gary Burton

Formed in 1979 under the name Steps, this group was seen by founder and vibes player Mike Mainieri (24 July 1938, the Bronx, New York City, New York, USA) as a way of bringing together some of the virtuoso musicians working in the New York studio scene. Originally comprising Michael Brecker (b. 29 March 1949, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, d. 13 January 2007, New York City Read more

Jack DeJohnette - 55% match to Gary Burton

9 August 1942, Chicago, Illinois, USA. DeJohnette studied piano for 10 years, graduating from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. He also played saxophone, but was inspired by the example of Max Roach to take up drums, which he played with the high school band. He would practise for four hours on drums and four on piano, and played in all sorts of situations, from Read more

Lyle Mays - 51% match to Gary Burton

27 November 1953, Wausaukie, Wisconsin, USA. The varied keyboard talents of Mays are regularly heard together with Pat Metheny. They met in 1975, and forged a musical partnership over a quarter of a century that is built upon respect and admiration for each other’s work. While it was Metheny who rightly took the limelight, the integral backbone of his music has much to Read more

Ralph Towner - 51% match to Gary Burton

The Brecker Brothers - 50% match to Gary Burton

Randy Brecker (27 November 1945, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA) and Michael Brecker (b. 29 March 1949, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, d. 13 January 2007, New York City, New York, USA) were two of the most in-demand studio musicians of the last 35 years, having supplied the horn licks to untold major records. Randy originally attended Indiana University to study under Da Read more

Larry Coryell - 49% match to Gary Burton

2 April 1943, Galveston, Texas, USA. Coryell grew up in the state of Washington. He first worked as a guitarist in 1958 when he formed a rock ‘n’ roll band with keyboard player Michael Mandel. In 1965 he relocated to New York and joined Chico Hamilton’s band, overlapping with the legendary guitarist Gabor Szabo, whom he eventually replaced. In 1966 he formed F Read more

Chick Corea - 47% match to Gary Burton

Armando Anthony Corea, 12 June 1941, Chelsea, Massachusetts, USA. After a very musical home environment, pianist Corea’s first notable professional engagements were in the Latin bands of Mongo Santamaría and Willie Bobo (1962-63), playing a style of music that continues to influence him today. Joining Blue Mitchell’s band in 1964, he spent two years with the Read more

Kurt Rosenwinkel - 46% match to Gary Burton

Kurt Peter Rosenwinkel, 28 October 1970, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Playing guitar from an early age, Rosenwinkel’s musical ears were opened by the music of Pat Metheny, John Scofield and Bill Frisell. After briefly attending Berklee College Of Music in Boston, in the late 80s he moved to New York where he joined Paul Motian’s Electric Bebop Band, an associat Read more

Pat Martino - 45% match to Gary Burton

Pat Azzara, 25 April 1944, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Martino’s singer father encouraged him to play guitar and he received some instruction from his cousin. He was a professional guitarist by the age of 15, playing with saxophonists Willis Jackson and Red Holloway. He played in all the leading organ combos of the 60s: with Don Patterson, Jimmy Smith, Brother Jack Read more

Paul Motian - 45% match to Gary Burton

Stephen Paul Motian, 25 March 1931, Providence, Rhode Island, USA. Motian played guitar in Providence in his teens, then served a term in the US army. On his discharge in 1954 he went to New York to study music at the Manhattan School. By 1956 he was playing drums for George Wallington and Russell Jacquet. Between 1956 and 1958 he worked with Tony Scott, with whom he met th Read more

Jim Hall - 44% match to Gary Burton

James Stanley Hall, 4 December 1930, Buffalo, New York, USA. While studying at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Hall made his first professional appearances playing guitar in local bands. In the mid-50s he settled on the west coast, where he continued his studies and also played with Chico Hamilton’s quintet. In 1956 he became a member of Jimmy Giuffre’s trio, the Read more

Pat Metheny - 44% match to Gary Burton

12 August 1954, Lee’s Summit, Missouri, USA. Although classed as a jazz guitarist, Metheny has bridged the gap between jazz and rock music in the same way that Miles Davis did in the late 60s and early 70s. Additionally, he played a major part in the growth of jazz’s popularity among the younger generation of the 80s. Throughout his career, his extraordinary sense Read more

Mike Stern - 43% match to Gary Burton

10 January 1953, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. While always a rock-orientated electric guitarist, Stern’s forays into contemporary jazz have never lacked edge or excitement. A student of Pat Metheny while at Berklee College Of Music, his first break came in 1976, when he joined Blood, Sweat And Tears. He worked with seminal fusion drummer Billy Cobham towards the end of t Read more