GARY BURTON - vibraphone
JULIAN LAGE - guitar
VADIM NESELOVSKYI - piano
LUQUES CURTIS - bass
JAMES WILLIAMS - drums

GARY BURTON - vibraphone

Born in 1943 and raised in Indiana, Gary Burton taught himself to play the vibraphone and, at the age of 17, made his recording debut in Nashville, Tennessee, with guitarists Hank Garland and Chet Atkins. Two years later, Burton left his studies at Berklee College of Music to join George Shearing and subsequently Stan Getz, with whom he worked from 1964-1966.

As a member of Getz's quartet, Burton won Down Beat magazine's Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition award in 1965. By the time he left Getz to form his own quartet in 1967, Burton had also recorded three albums under his name for RCA. Borrowing rhythms and sonorities from rock music, while maintaining jazz's emphasis on improvisation and harmonic complexity, Burton's first quartet attracted large audiences from both sides of the jazz-rock spectrum. Such albums as Duster and Lofty Fake Anagram established Burton and his band as progenitors of the jazz fusion phenomenon. Burton's burgeoning popularity was quickly validated by Down Beat magazine, which awarded him its Jazzman of the Year award in 1968. During his subsequent association with the label (1973-1988) the Burton Quartet expanded to include the young Pat Metheny on guitar, and the band began to explore a repertoire of modern compositions. In the '70s, Burton also began to focus on more intimate contexts for his music. His 1971 album Alone at Last, a solo vibraphone concert recorded at the 1971 Montreux Jazz Festival, was honored with a Grammy Award. Burton also turned to the rarely heard duo format, recording with bassist Steve Swallow, guitarist Ralph Towner, and most notably with pianist Chick Corea, thus cementing a long personal and professional relationship that has garnered an additional two Grammy Awards.

Also in the '70s, Burton began his career with Berklee College of Music in Boston. Burton began as a teacher of percussion and improvisation classes at Berklee in 1971. In 1985 he was named Dean of Curriculum. In 1989, he received an honorary doctorate of music from the college, and in 1996, he was appointed Executive Vice President.

Burton began recording for GRP records in the '80s and '90s. In 1990, he paired up again with his former protege Metheny for Reunion, which landed him the top spot on Billboard magazine's jazz chart. Burton is now recording for Concord Records. Departure (Gary Burton & Friends) was released in 1997 by Concord Records as well as Native Sense, a new duet collaboration with Chick Corea, which garnered a Grammy Award in 1998. Also in 1997, Burton recorded his second collection of tango music, Astor Piazzolla Reunion, featuring the top tango musicians of Argentina, followed by Libertango in 2000, another collection of Piazzolla music. His 1998 Concord release, Like Minds, an all-star hit featuring his frequent collaborators Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Roy Haynes, and Dave Holland, was honored with a Grammy win, Burton's fifth. Gary's vibraphone tribute CD, For Hamp, Red, Bags and Cal, was released in March 2001 on Concord and garnered Gary's 12th Grammy nomination. His most recent release in 2002 is a unique project with Makoto Ozone, his pianist collaborator of the past twenty years. In Virtuosi the pair explore the improvisational possibilities of classical themes including works by Brahms, Scarlatti, Ravel, Barber and others. In an unusual move, the Recording Academy nominated Virtuosi in the classical category of the Grammy awards, a unique honor for Gary.

For the future, Gary is going to be concentrating on performing and recording with the GARY BURTON GENERATIONS band. His recording GENERATIONS was released in April of 2004 on Concord, and the group will be recording a second project for release in 2005.

JULIAN LAGE - guitar

Although just 17, Julian Lage has already established his name in the jazz field and demonstrated his abilities at a very high level. He began playing guitar at age 5, playing mostly blues at first, but he soon discovered jazz and by age eleven was playing with sufficient skill to be chosen to perform on the nationally televised Grammy Awards telecast where he was spotted by Gary Burton. Before long, Burton had asked Julian to join him on some performances and a collaboration developed. In 2003, Julian recorded with Burton on his GENERATIONS CD and they recorded together again in 2005 with NEXT GENERATION. In the meantime, Julian has managed to attend school and also make guest appearances with a number of musical greats including Charles Lloyd, John Abercrombie, Dave Grisman and Billy Higgins. He has performed several times at the San Francisco Jazz Festival, plus the Monterey Jazz Festival and the Newport Jazz Festival. Julian currently attends college in his hometown, Santa Rosa, CA and tours regularly with the Gary Burton GENERATIONS quintet. Julian displays a maturity and musicality well beyond his years, having contributed a number of original compositions to the quintet’s repertoire. Following in the tradition of previous guitarists who have played in Burton’s ensembles including such musicians as Larry Coryell, John Scofield, Mick Goodrick, Pat Metheny and Kurt Rosenwinkel, you can add Julian Lage to that list of guitar giants.

VADIM NESELOVSKYI - piano

Vadim Neselovskyi, the pianist in the GENERATIONS quintet, grew up in Odessa, Ukraine then moved with his family to Dortmund, Germany when he was 17 years old. He began studying classical music at an early age, but switched to jazz in his teenage years. Shortly after arriving in Germany, he established himself in the local jazz scene, taking part in the Dusseldorf Jazz Rally and the Munich Jazzfest. After a few years, he decided to move to the USA for further study at Berklee College of Music, graduating in 2004. In the meantime, he has performed at various times with pianist Gonzalo Rubalcobo (in duet), Tiger Okoshi, and Teri Lyn Carrington before joining Gary Burton’s group. He also leads his own quartet, which features a repertoire of his original compositions. Vadim has a very individual soloing style that draws heavily from his experience as a composer and his classical background. He adds colorful interaction to every performance of the group.

LUQUES CURTIS - bass

Bassist, Luques Curtis has performed with a great number of established jazz musicians including Chucho Valdez, Bobby McFerrin, Donald Harrison and Ralph Peterson, among others. He grew up in Hartford, CT in a musical family. He has two brothers who also play professionally and they frequently perform as The Curtis Brothers. An alumni of Berklee College of Music, Luques has performed at a number of major festivals including the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, the Havana Jazz Festival in Cuba, and the Toronto Jazz Festival in Canada. He has toured in the USA, Europe and Japan. He joined Gary Burton’s GENERATION quintet in July 2004. Luques is an impressive soloist, but also provides the harmonic and rhythmic anchor for the quintet.

JAMES WILLIAMS - drums

James Williams began his music career in the churches where his father was the local pastor in Savannah, Georgia. He played several instruments but settled on drums as his main interest and when his family moved to Monterey, CA, he joined the jazz band at his local high school. His playing quickly developed and he went on to Berklee College of Music in Boston. Although he is still a young musician at age 21, he has performed at a number of major jazz festivals and has had the opportunity to play with many well-known musicians including Wynton Marsalis, Christian Scott, Patrice Rushen, Dave Koz, George Duke and vocalist Nneena Freelon. He has toured the USA, Europe and Japan including such festivals as Montreux Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz, Vienne Jazz Festival and the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival. As is often said, the drummer in a band has the ability to make everyone else in the group sound their best. And, this is definitely true of James’s playing. He is inventive and fresh, but always holds the group together solidly.