Search - Gary Burton :: Country Roads & Other Places

The Best of Many Fine Albums

David Keymer | Modesto CA | 11/04/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Gary Burton was an early favorite of mine, starting with his controversial --sometimes brilliant, other times flat-- Nashville-jazz cross, Tennessee Firebird. (Listen to the title cut on the album, which features what amounts to a non-stop blistering drum solo by Roy Haynes behind the excellent solos of sax player Steve Marcus and Burton on vibes.)



Duster appeared soon after. It was an uneven album but with exceptional solos by Burton and guitarist Larry Coryell who (in my opinion) never played as brilliantly thereafter, even on Spaces, a fine duet album with John McLaughlin. Duster was the first of several albums showing Burton's unusual rapport with guitarists.



A string of good ones played with him --Coryell, Jerry Hahn, Mick Goodrick, Pat Metheny. Hahn probably received the least notice: he withdrew from straight ahead jazz just when he'd begun to attract notice for his work with Burton and John Handy.



Country Roads is a true ensemble album. Four first class musicians --Burton, Hahn, Steve Swallow (on acoustic as well as electric bass) and Roy Haynes-- play up a storm. The songs incorporate respect for the forms of country music (listen especially to Burton's and Hahn's exchanges on Wichita Breakdown) along with more straight ahead jazz.



My favorite is Green Mountains. Musically, the piece is bright and pulsing, Haynes and Swallow's rock solid rhythm provides a pulsing background to excellent solos by Burton and Hahn. But I have my own reason to love this album and this cut: thirty-five years ago I bought this album, newly released, on the day our son was born. Whenever I hear "Green Mountains," with its sunny melody and sprung rhythms, it conjures up images of our son as a very young child.



I love this album!



Dave Keymer

Modesto CA"

On Par with DUSTER

Michael St John | St. Paul, MN | 11/26/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm not sure why this isn't as celebrated or popular as DUSTER. This '69 date came just two years later with essentially the same band; only Larry Coryell was replaced by Jerry Hahn, who added more of a country & western influence into the music. Not that Hahn turned the group into a heavy country-fusion outfit. The quartet still retains its own unique kind of chamber jazz sound; the influences of contemporary rock and country music are more subtle than some critics and historians like to suggest.The group interaction on this date is as intuitive as ever before. If you like DUSTER and FAKE ANAGRAM, be sure to pick this up as well. For a few choice samples, try the Ravel Prelude, "Green Mountains," or "Wichita Breakdown.""