Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
In Memoriam: John Hammond Jr., 1942–2026
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
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
Hammond came to the blues through the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which he experienced firsthand in New York’s Greenwich Village.
Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
“Cerebral and academic thought is a different way to approach music,” Flea says of his continuing dive into jazz. “I’ve always relied on emotion and intuition and physicality.”
Mar 30, 2026 10:30 PM
In the relatively small pantheon of certifiable rock stars venturing into the intersection of pop music and jazz, the…
Vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater will be among the headliners at this year’s DC JazzFest.
Mar 2, 2026 9:48 PM
The first wave of artists scheduled to perform at the 2026 DC JazzFest have been announced. This year’s headliners…
Blindfold Test proctor Ted Panken, left, with the Grammy-winning Nicole Zuraitis.
Feb 24, 2026 12:00 PM
After earning the 2024 Best Jazz Vocal Album Grammy for her seventh album, How Love Begins (La Reserve), comprising 12…
“These days, with curated news, where people only get half the story, people can’t even speak to family members anymore,” Schneider laments.
Mar 10, 2026 1:43 PM
Maria Schneider is doing her part to try to fix what ails America. Which got her thinking about crows, specifically,…
