Aug 26, 2025 1:53 PM
Blindfold Test: Buster Williams
Buster Williams, who at the age of 83 has been on the scene for 65 years, had never done a Blindfold Test. The first…
Gary Burton and Makato Ozone. Burton has announced that his current U.S. tour will be his last.
(Photo: Courtesy of the artist)Vibraphonist Gary Burton, a perennial leader in the annual DownBeat Critics Poll, has announced his retirement from the jazz world. The seven-time Grammy Award winner has made clear in a statement that his current U.S. tour, which began March 1 in Washington D.C., will be his last.
“I have been preparing for this for the past two years, gradually reducing my commitments and making the final decision for when to step back from my six decades of performing,” Burton wrote on his website. “Let’s just say, for health reasons, this is the right time to start a new chapter in my life.”
His final stop will be on March17 at the Jazz Kitchen in Indianapolis, Indiana, bringing the longtime South Florida resident back to the state of his birth for one last curtain call.
Burton will be joined on the tour by collaborator pianist Makoto Ozone. The duo has recorded a number of albums together over the course of their three-decade musical partnership, including 1995’s Face To Face (GRP) and 2002’s Virtuosi (Concord). The tour includes multiple stops on the East Coast and a quick jaunt into the Midwest.
A complete list of dates is below:
March 8–11: Birdland, New York
March 12: Shalin Liu Performance Center, Rockport, MA
March 14: Space, Evanston, IL
March 15: Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant, Minneapolis, MN
March 17: The Jazz Kitchen, Indianapolis, IN
For more information, visit Burton’s website. DB
“What I got from Percy was the dignity of playing the bass,” Buster Williams said of Percy Heath.
Aug 26, 2025 1:53 PM
Buster Williams, who at the age of 83 has been on the scene for 65 years, had never done a Blindfold Test. The first…
Don and Maureen Sickler serve as the keepers of engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s flame at Van Gelder Studio, perhaps the most famous recording studio in jazz history.
Sep 3, 2025 12:02 PM
On the last Sunday of 2024, in the control room of Van Gelder Studio, Don and Maureen Sickler, co-owners since Rudy Van…
The Free Slave, Cosmos Nucleus and Sunset To Dawn: three classic Muse albums being reissued this fall by Timer Traveler Recordings.
Aug 26, 2025 1:32 PM
Record producer and “Jazz Detective” Zev Feldman has launched his next endeavor, the archival label Time Traveler…
Butcher Brown, clockwise from top left: Marcus Tenney, DJ Harrison, Morgan Burrs, Corey Fonville and Andrew Randazzo. (Keyboardist Harrison couldn’t make the gig, so special guest Jacob Mann sat in with the band at the Reno Jazz Festival.)
Aug 19, 2025 12:41 PM
The band known as Butcher Brown has enjoyed the last half-decade basking in the glow from the twin engines of critical…
This year’s Jazz em Agosto set by the Darius Jones Trio captured the titular alto saxophonist at his most ferocious.
Aug 26, 2025 1:31 PM
The organizers of Lisbon, Portugal’s Jazz em Agosto Festival assume its audience is thoughtful and independent. Over…
