CULTURE

Master joins forces with his former star student

One of the international jazz circuit’s most accomplished vibraphonists, Gary Burton, and one of his prized former students, the premier Japanese pianist Makoto Ozone, who has emerged as one of the veteran player’s steadier collaborators since the mid-1980s, will be joining forces for one performance at the Athens Concert Hall this Friday night. The pair, who will perform improvisations, as well as their interpretation of new material by Greek composer Thanos Mikroutsikos that was commissioned by the Athens Concert Hall, will perform backed by the Camerata Friends of Music Orchestra with Alexandros Myrat at the podium. The evening’s repertoire will be divided into two parts, starting with the improvised work of Burton and Ozone. They first came into contact some 15 years ago while Burton was teaching percussion and improvisation at the Berklee College of Music. Ozone, who distinguished himself as one of Burton’s finest students and has since earned a reputation as one of his country’s finest jazz musicians, has appeared on several of Burton’s albums including 1994’s excellent Face to Face, a work that highlighted the congruity of their working relationship, as well as Ozone’s knowledge and mastery of the full jazz piano spectrum. The 40-year-old Ozone is nowadays based in the USA, where he has become a prominent member of the country’s improvising community. Burton, a self-taught, vibraphone player with a distinctive sound, has recorded in a wide variety of settings. The 58-year-old artist made his recording debut at the age of 17 with country guitarist Hank Garland. He gained fame as a member of Stan Getz’s pianoless quartet during the mid-1960s before putting together his own groups with a variety of musicians, among them Larry Coryell, Pat Metheny and Chick Corea. More recently, Burton paid tribute to the late tango master Astor Piazolla with an album title Libertango. The second part of Friday night’s performance will include Mikroutsikos’s Musical Stories for Vibraphone, String Orchestra, Percussion and Clarinet, a new work by the Greek composer to be rendered by Burton with two local musicians, the clarinetist Nikos Ginos, and percussionist Dimitris Desyllas. Eurotruck goes north. The Eurotruck, the vehicle which is on a roadshow to acquaint the public with the European single currency slated for introduction on January 1, will be in Thessaloniki on Thursday and Friday. The city’s Chamber of Commerce is holding a special event in Aristotelous Square at 7 p.m. tomorrow.

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