No More Blues

Gary Burton

Arguably the vibraphonist’s greatest performance

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Gary Burton, who retired in 2018, was one of the finest vibraphonists of all time, mastering a technique that used four mallets at once rather than the usual two.

Burton had a long career leading impressive groups that often featured up-and-coming guitarists (including Larry Coryell, John Scofield and Pat Metheny) but possibly his greatest recording was his unaccompanied exploration of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “No More Blues” (“Chega de Saudade”) in the late 1960s.

This filmed version is even faster than the recording and is quite dazzling; one cannot imagine another vibraphonist doing this so successfully at this tempo.

-Scott Yanow

 

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