Four Classic Albums (Spring Sequence / Very Warm For Jazz / Bijou / Porgy & Bess In Modern Jazz)

Jazz pianist, composer and arranger Ralph Burns was another child prodigy, playing piano as a child and in 1930 attending the New England Conservatory of Music. During his studies he lived with big band singer Frances Wayne who introduced Burns to her bandleader brother Nick Jeret and very quickly he found himself in the company of such greats as Nat King Cole and Art Tatum. He moved to New York City in the early 1940's and hooked up with Charlie Barnet which in turn led to his long tenure with Woody Herman. Burns later reflected that the fifteen year association with Herman had been the happiest of his musical career. During this period he was writing and arranging such great Herman classics as Bijou, Northwest Passage, Apple Honey and Summer Sequence. Artists Burns played with during his big band days include, Woody Herman, Stan Getz, Charlie Ventura, Billy Strayhorn, Lee Konitz and Ben Webster. After the big band era had gone Burns played in a number of smaller units but as time moved on he was primarily occupied with writing, arranging and orchestrating. In fact it is exhausting just to read the list of his accomplishments during the rest of his career. Here's just a sample... writing for Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Aretha Franklin and Natalie Cole; arranging for Ray Charles, including Georgia On My Mind! Arranging and orchestrating for such shows as Chicago, Funny Girl, Sweet Charity as well as films such as Lenny, Cabaret, All That Jazz and Annie. As well as winning two Academy Awards for Cabaret and All That Jazz, he won two Tony's and one Emmy and was inducted into the New England Jazz Hall of Fame in 2004.