NEWS UPDATE!!

Hello everyone,

Itıs about time I caught up with this welcome letter on my site. Thereıs no excuse for laziness, but it has been a busy year and itıs only half over. I am taking a break from the road trips for a moment to catch up with some things, but Iıll soon be back in action for the fall season.

I wrapped up my year of touring with Chick Corea at the festival in Marciac, France in early August. Having an extended period of time to create music with Chick was one of the most satisfying musical experiences in my life. We covered most of the civilized world with tours of Asia, Australia, Europe, Russia, and various runs across the USA. We also recorded a number of the concerts, including those with symphony orchestra during our Australia tour, so a live-recorded CD is in the works. We also plan to return to the concert stage next spring with a short tour of the USA (March) and a swing through Europe (April), by which time the new CD will be available.

Besides a month of touring with Chick next year, I will also be out for another stint with Pat Metheny, Steve Swallow and Antonio Sanchez presenting our ³Gary Burton Quartet Revisited² project. This group also recorded live during our 2006 tour and a CD will be forthcoming in 2008.

My other collaboration these days is with French accordionist Richard Galliano. We share a deep interest in the music of Astor Piazzolla and our concert repertoire is about equally divided between contemporary tango music and jazz standards. Our latest CD is called Lıhymne a Lıamour (you can tell Richard named it). It is on the Camjazz label and available as of August, 2007. My only major tour still to come in 2007 is a month-long trip around Europe with Richard in October and November.

Plans for next year are taking shape and while I am intentionally trying to be home a bit more than I managed this year, there are still several major tours and projects already confirmed. I continue to play occasionally with Makoto Ozone, even though he has returned to living in Japan. And there is always the occasional special opportunity that catches my interest (such as playing with Roy Haynes in late November for the opening of the new Yoshiıs Club in San Francisco).

Meanwhile, on a more personal note, Jonathan and I are moving into our newly built house in a couple of weeks and there will be a lot to do in the months ahead on the home front. Itıs only taken about two years from start to finish, so weıre really looking forward to finally settling in.

FYI: Due to being unable to control the overwhelming spam that kept invading the Guestbook portion of the website, I have finally decided to discontinue it. I regret not being able to hear directly from people, but I finally had to give up the technical battle with the spammers.

As always, I appreciate your interest in my music and the support I get from audiences wherever I go.

Gary Burton
Ft Lauderdale, FL