Gary Burton taught himself to play the vibraphone and along the way he developed the `4-stick system'. Up until then, illustrious predecessors like Lionel Hampton and Milt Jackson had used the vibraphone largely as a solo-instrument played with two mallets. Burton discovered a playing technique using two sticks in each hand that allowed him to play chords and complex harmonies. In the early sixties, at the tender age of just 17, he recorded his first album. From that moment on he was the most desired sideman (for George Shearing and Stan Getz) and bandleader on the jazz vibraphone. In 1974 he recorded the album The Colors of Chloe with, among others, guitarist Pat Metheny and bassist Steve Swallow. These two masters of jazz are now members of the Gary Burton Quartet together with Antonio Sanchez. The vibraphonist, specialized in the works of composer Carla Bley, makes fairytale-like music filled with fantastic melodies and strange harmonies.
