Don Burrows
Encyclopedia
Donald Vernon Burrows, AO
, MBE (born 8 August 1928 in Sydney
, Australia
) is an Australian jazz
and swing
musician
, playing the clarinet
, saxophone
, and flute
.
His best-known group is the Don Burrows Quartet: Don Burrows (multiple woodwind), George Golla
(guitar), Ed Gaston (bass) and Alan Turnbull
(drums).
Burrows has played with world-renowned musicians such as Frank Sinatra
, Dizzy Gillespie
and Nat King Cole
, Oscar Peterson
, James Morrison
, Tony Bennett
, the Sydney Symphony, Stéphane Grappelli
, and Cleo Laine
.
and was awarded Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). In 1979, he was appointed as chair of the jazz studies department at the conservatorium.
He was invited to perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival
in 1972 and later the Newport Jazz Festival
.
He has performed to normally classical music audiences through tours with Musica Viva and Australian Broadcasting Corporation
concert series.
Burrows fronted the nationally televised show The Don Burrows Collection for six years. He has an extensive recording career in his own right with his groups, and has performed on many more albums with other artists.
In the 1980s, he associated closely with the then young James Morrison
.
In the 2000s, Burrow's public profile has receded somewhat as he performs less than he used to.
In 2005 he toured with a small band including renowned Australian jazz pianist Kevin Hunt, Burrows is using his photographic images with his music, in a show called Stop, Look and Listen.
on the Gippsland Lakes
of Victoria
.
He has had a lifelong hobby of black-and-white photography
, beginning in his 20s as an active participant in the Sans Souci
and Caringbah
camera
clubs in Sydney. He sees the creativity of music and photography having significant similarities. He is also an avid fly fisherman.
Burrows has suffered from arthritis
since age 38. In a 2008 interview with Australian Broadcasting Corporation
's Andrew Ford
, celebrating his 80th birthday, he said
"arthritis is not the greatest for playing a musical instrument. But playing a musical instrument is very, very good for arthritis"
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
, MBE (born 8 August 1928 in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
) is an Australian jazz
Australian jazz
Jazz music has a long history in Australia. Over the years jazz has held a high profile at local clubs, festivals and other music venues and a vast number of recordings have been produced by Australian jazz musicians, many of whom have gone on to gain a high profile in the international jazz...
and swing
Swing (genre)
Swing music, also known as swing jazz or simply swing, is a form of jazz music that developed in the early 1930s and became a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, playing the clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
, saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
, and flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
.
His best-known group is the Don Burrows Quartet: Don Burrows (multiple woodwind), George Golla
George Golla
George Golla AM is an Australian jazz guitarist. In 1959 he commenced a long-term working musical partnership with clarinetist/flautist/saxophonist Don Burrows that continued for almost forty years. On 10 June 1985, Golla was made a Member of the Order of Australia with the citation, For service...
(guitar), Ed Gaston (bass) and Alan Turnbull
Alan Lawrence Turnbull
Alan Lawrence Turnbull, is a jazz drummer and freelance professional musicianAlan Turnbull was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1943...
(drums).
Burrows has played with world-renowned musicians such as Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
and Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...
, Oscar Peterson
Oscar Peterson
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends. He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received other numerous awards and honours over the course of his career...
, James Morrison
James Morrison (musician)
James Morrison AM is an Australian jazz musician who plays numerous instruments, but is best known for his trumpet playing...
, Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....
, the Sydney Symphony, Stéphane Grappelli
Stéphane Grappelli
Stéphane Grappelli was a French jazz violinist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands....
, and Cleo Laine
Cleo Laine
Dame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth, DBE is a jazz singer and an actress, noted for her scat singing and vocal range...
.
Biography
1973 was a watershed year for Burrows in which he received the first gold record won by an Australian jazz musician for his record Just the Beginning; instigated the first jazz studies program in the southern hemisphere at the New South Wales Conservatorium of MusicSydney Conservatorium of Music
The Sydney Conservatorium of Music is one of the oldest and most prestigious music schools in Australia...
and was awarded Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). In 1979, he was appointed as chair of the jazz studies department at the conservatorium.
He was invited to perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival
Montreux Jazz Festival
The Montreux Jazz Festival is the best-known music festival in Switzerland and one of the most prestigious in Europe; it is held annually in early July in Montreux on the shores of Lake Geneva...
in 1972 and later the Newport Jazz Festival
Newport Jazz Festival
The Newport Jazz Festival is a music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It was established in 1954 by socialite Elaine Lorillard, who, together with husband Louis Lorillard, financed the festival for many years. The couple hired jazz impresario George Wein to organize the...
.
He has performed to normally classical music audiences through tours with Musica Viva and Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
concert series.
Burrows fronted the nationally televised show The Don Burrows Collection for six years. He has an extensive recording career in his own right with his groups, and has performed on many more albums with other artists.
In the 1980s, he associated closely with the then young James Morrison
James Morrison (musician)
James Morrison AM is an Australian jazz musician who plays numerous instruments, but is best known for his trumpet playing...
.
In the 2000s, Burrow's public profile has receded somewhat as he performs less than he used to.
In 2005 he toured with a small band including renowned Australian jazz pianist Kevin Hunt, Burrows is using his photographic images with his music, in a show called Stop, Look and Listen.
Awards
- Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), 1973
- Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), 1987
- Life member of the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music, 1988
- Inducted into the ARIA Music AwardsARIA Music AwardsThe Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Australian Recording Industry Association...
Hall of Fame, 1991 - Named one of the Australian Living TreasuresAustralian Living TreasuresAustralian Living Treasures are people who have been nominated by the National Trust of Australia. The first list of 100 Living Treasures was published in 1997....
, 1989, 1999 - Sir Bernard HeinzeBernard HeinzeSir Bernard Thomas Heinze, AC was an Australian Professor of Music, conductor, and Director of the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music....
Award, for his service to Australia, 2000 - Honorary DoctorateDoctorateA doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
in Music, Sydney University, 2000 - Honorary Doctorate in Music, Edith Cowan UniversityEdith Cowan UniversityEdith Cowan University is located in Perth, Western Australia. It was named after the first woman to be elected to an Australian Parliament, Edith Cowan, and is the only Australian university named after a woman....
, PerthPerth, Western AustraliaPerth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, 2001 - Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music, Australasian Performing Right AssociationAustralasian Performing Right AssociationThe Australasian Performing Right Association is a copyright collective representing New Zealand and Australian composers, lyricists and music publishers. The association's head offices located in Sydney Australia, and it has branch offices in Auckland, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth...
(APRA) Awards of 2004APRA Awards of 2004The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 2004 are a series of awards which include the APRA Music Awards, Classical Music Awards, and Screen Music Awards. The APRA Music Awards ceremony occurred on 24 May at Melbourne's Regent Theatre, they were presented by APRA and the... - Honorary Doctorate in Education, Central Queensland UniversityCentral Queensland UniversityCQUniversity is an Australian public university based in Queensland. Its main campus is in North Rockhampton Queensland. However, it also has campuses in Bundaberg, Emerald, Gladstone and Mackay, as well as operations throughout Asia-Pacific. For instance, Melior Business School is one of its...
, 2004 - Queen Elizabeth Jubilee medal
- Inducted into the Australian jazzAustralian jazzJazz music has a long history in Australia. Over the years jazz has held a high profile at local clubs, festivals and other music venues and a vast number of recordings have been produced by Australian jazz musicians, many of whom have gone on to gain a high profile in the international jazz...
Bell Awards Hall of Fame, 2007
Social matters and interests
Burrows lives in PaynesvillePaynesville, Victoria
Paynesville is a tourist/holiday resort town in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. At the 2006 census, Paynesville had a population of 2967. The town is located east of the state capital, Melbourne. It is known as the boating capital of Victoria....
on the Gippsland Lakes
Gippsland Lakes
The Gippsland Lakes are a network of lakes, marshes and lagoons in east Gippsland, Victoria, Australia covering an area of about 600 km2. The largest of the lakes are Lake Wellington , Lake King and Lake Victoria. They are fed by the Avon, Thomson, Latrobe, Mitchell, Nicholson and Tambo...
of Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
.
He has had a lifelong hobby of black-and-white photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
, beginning in his 20s as an active participant in the Sans Souci
Sans Souci, New South Wales
Sans Souci is a southern Sydney suburb in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Sans Souci is 17 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and lies across the local government areas of the City of Rockdale and the Municipality of Kogarah. It is part of the St George area.Sans...
and Caringbah
Caringbah, New South Wales
Caringbah is a suburb, in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Caringbah is located 24 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Sutherland Shire...
camera
Camera
A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
clubs in Sydney. He sees the creativity of music and photography having significant similarities. He is also an avid fly fisherman.
Burrows has suffered from arthritis
Arthritis
Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....
since age 38. In a 2008 interview with Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
's Andrew Ford
Andrew Ford
Andrew Ford is an English and Australian composer, writer and radio presenter.He was Composer-in-residence with the Australian Chamber Orchestra , held the Peggy Glanville-Hicks Composer Fellowship from 1998 to 2000 and was awarded a two-year fellowship by the Music Board of the Australia Council...
, celebrating his 80th birthday, he said
"arthritis is not the greatest for playing a musical instrument. But playing a musical instrument is very, very good for arthritis"
Discography
This is a partial discography of Don Burrows:- 1966 The Jazz Sound of the Don Burrows Quartet, Columbia RecordsColumbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
- 1969 2000 Weeks (OST), EMIEMIThe EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
SCXO-7883 - 1972 Live At Montreux, Cherry Pie Records
- 1973 Just the beginning
- 1974 The Don Burrows Quartet at the Sydney Opera House, Cherry Pie
- 1975 The New Don Burrows Quintet
- 1975 Duo, Don Burrows & George GollaGeorge GollaGeorge Golla AM is an Australian jazz guitarist. In 1959 he commenced a long-term working musical partnership with clarinetist/flautist/saxophonist Don Burrows that continued for almost forty years. On 10 June 1985, Golla was made a Member of the Order of Australia with the citation, For service...
, Cherry Pie - 1975 The Saxophone Artistry Of Don Burrows, Columbia
- 1976 The Tasman Connection, Cherry Pie Records
- 1976 Cool Yule, Cherry Pie
- 1977 Don Burrows and the Brazilian Connection
- 1977 Steph 'n' Us, Stephane GrappelliStéphane GrappelliStéphane Grappelli was a French jazz violinist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands....
/Don Burrows & George Golla Duo - 1977 Don Burrows and the Brazilian Connection, Cherry Pie
- 1978 At The Sydney Opera House, Cherry Pie
- 1979 Bonfa Burrows Brazil, (with Luis Bonfa), Cherry Pie
- 1979 Back in Town, Andrews/Brown/Burrows/Turnbull, 44 records
- 1980 Brazilian Parrot
- 1982 Jazz Brothers - A Retrospective, ABC MusicABC MusicABC Music: The Radio 1 Sessions, released in October 2002, is a compilation by post-rock band Stereolab of BBC Radio 1 sessions recorded from July 1991 to August 2001...
- 1982 A Night in Tunisia
- 1982 Sara Dane: Music Inspired by the T.V. Series
- 1985 Makin Whoopee, ABC
- 1985 Jazz at the Opera House
- 1986 Flute Salad, Don Burrows & Chris Hinze, ABC
- 1994 Together at last, Julie AnthonyJulie Anthony (Australian singer)Julie Moncrief Lush OBE AM , better known as Julie Anthony, is an Australian entertainer. She sang the Australian National Anthem at the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics with Human Nature....
& Don Burrows - 1994 Strings of Swing, Ian CooperIan Cooper (violinist)Ian Cooper is an Australian Violinist. He was commissioned to compose the "Tin Symphony" for the opening ceremony of the Games of the XXVII Olympiad in Sydney and is proficient in many musical styles including Classical, Gypsy, Jazz, Irish & Country music...
- 1999 Whenever, Morrison Records
- 2005 Non-stop Flight, Don Burrows & The Mell-o-tones
- Other places other times, Don Burrows & George Golla Duo, Cherry Pie
- Burrows At The Winery, ABC
- Someone who cares, Cherry Pie
- The Babinda Trilogy, Warner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
External links
- Listen to a clip from 'Just the Beginning' and read more about it on australianscreen online
- The album 'Just the Beginning' was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia Registry in 2010