Enjoy the good vibes of vibraphonist, educator and composer Gary Burton as he shares his journey from discovering music as a child living in Indiana, to playing with greats as an accomplished artist with other Jazz greats such as Chick Corea and Pat Methany and his book "Learning to Listen: The Jazz Journey".






In November of 2015, WBAI's Jazz legend show Suga In My Bowl show honors Gary Burton by inviting the self-taught musician and vibes magician for an interview and celebration of tunes from his 30 year discography.

This 2014 NPR Tiny Desk performance event pairs two great sounds of Jazz in the soulful sounds of Robert Glasper Experiment featuring Marsha Ambrosius on vocals and the soothing vibes of Jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton. Enjoy and check out more 2014 NPR Tiny Desk performances at their YouTube channel.

"The third song in this Tiny Desk Concert, explains the jocose pianist Robert Glasper, first appeared on one of his trio's albums of acoustic, instrumental jazz. It was called "F.T.B." then, though it later acquired words and a singer and was retitled "Gonna Be Alright" on the record which won the 2013 Grammy for Best R&B Album. That in itself provides a sense of the worlds to which Glasper has access; depending on your point of view, he either freely traverses or explodes those boundaries.

Glasper has released two albums of what you might call neo-soul, or maybe organic R&B, featuring a core band (The Robert Glasper Experiment) and guest stars like Erykah Badu, Lupe Fiasco and Norah Jones. Black Radio and last year's sequel, Black Radio 2, aren't heard much on "urban" radio, but the point is that they ought to be. Glasper builds his songs with old-school values: singers and MCs who don't need software to carry a melody, improvising within a band, hand-building beats and vamps with live instruments.

That's what you see at the Tiny Desk. "Trust" features Marsha Ambrosius, formerly of the duo Floetry, and it's a good example of the Black Radio concept in raw, unpasteurized form. The middle tune is an ad hoc improvisation, and a good example of how Glasper and his Experiment have so dialed in their communication that they can plant seeds of noise and harvest blooms of music. By the time "F.T.B" (a.k.a. "Gonna Be Alright") rolls around, the mood is familiar and at ease. It's the sound of a band whose members speak many musical languages, but decide to converse in one that feels like its native tongue."
--PATRICK JARENWATTANANON

Set List
"Trust"
"NPR Tiny Desk Jam"
"F.T.B. (Gonna Be Alright)"

Personnel
Robert Glasper, keyboards
Derrick Hodge, bass
Mark Colenburg, drums
Marsha Ambrosius, voice