Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Burton L. Collins was born on March 27, 1931 in New York City but raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During the 1950s he worked with Dizzy Gillespie, Urbie Green, Neal Hefti, Woody Herman, Elliot Lawrence, Johnny Richards, and Claude Thornhill.

Relocating to New York around 1960 he played in Broadway orchestras and in ensembles with Cannonball Adderley, Albert Ayler, Jimmy McGriff, Blue Mitchell, Duke Pearson, and Stanley Turrentine, among others. With Joe Shepley he formed the group Collins-Shepley Galaxy in 1970, recording two albums, including a Lennon/McCartney tribute. Later in the decade he played flugelhorn with Urbie Green again as well as with Janis Ian, Lee Konitz, David Matthews, and T. Rex’s album Electric Warrior.

Over the course of his career he recorded a hundred albums as a sideman with, among others, Manny Albam, Woody Herman, Duke Pearson, Cy Coleman, Frank Foster, Sal Salvador, Pat Moran, Astrud Gilberto, George Benson, Chris Connor, Manhattan Transfer, Tony Bennett, Luiz Bonfa, Airto Moreira, Paul Desmond, Eumir Deodato and Lalo Schifrin.

He played little after the 1970s, though he appeared on record with Loren Schoenbergin 1987. Trumpeter Burt Collins transitioned on February 23, 2007 in Philadelphia.

CALIFORNIA JAZZ FOUNDATION

More Posts: ,,,,