Generations

Looking back over Gary Burton's illustrious career, it may not be instantly obvious why the jazz master would vie for a collaboration with the impressive, though untested, young guitar prodigy Julian Lage for his latest Concord Records album, entitled Generations.

Burton's innovations in jazz, especially his approach to the vibraphone and his mastery of simultaneous four-mallet playing, have been the hallmark of a career that has spanned four-decades. His five GRAMMY® Awards and 13 GRAMMY® nominations cross multiple categories and attest to the high regard his music has achieved amongst his peers. Yet Burton's genius as a jazz pioneer has been mostly overlooked.

Burton's latest discovery, the young prodigy Julian Lage, heralds the next chapter in his illustrious career as mentor. Gary first encountered the 12-year old Julian while the young prodigy was performing with a youth ensemble during 1998 GRAMMY Awards telecast. "Even during that brief spotlight," Gary notes, "I could tell he was a natural improviser who could really swing. A few months later, I invited Julian to play a concert with myself and Herbie Hancock."

Lage, now 16, has already received high praise from the jazz world. Herbie Hancock declared Julian played "with heart, mind and soul." Don Heckman of the Los Angeles Times observed Lage "showed all the signs of potential stardom." On Generations (a titled inspired by the ageless rapport connecting the two musicians), the young guitarist joins the master vibraphonist to showcase, with remarkable and insightful playing, his own compositions along with tracks by Makoto Ozone, Oscar Peterson, and Carla Bley, among others.