Roger Burn

Roger Burn (13 April 1962—29 March 2009) was an American vibraphonist, pianist/keyboardist, drummer/percussionist, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He led his own band "Shapes" cutting two albums, and also worked on the music for a few movies and television shows.

Early life

Roger Burn was born Roger Edward Burn in Pasadena, California, on April 13, 1962, to Dr. J. Edward Burn and Joyce Burn.

Burn got his start in music at a young age, playing drums by eleven. In the next few years, he mastered the piano followed by vibraphone, training with vibraphonist Victor Feldman, drummer Freddie Gruber, and his high school band director Ed Wolff.

Among his favorites and inspiration were such legends as vibraphonists Victor Feldman, Lionel Hampton, and Red Norvo; drummers Buddy Rich, Louie Bellson, and Steve Gadd; and pianists Art Tatum, Fats Waller, Oscar Peterson and George Gershwin. He also admired the modern jazz fusion group the Yellowjackets and its bassist Jimmy Haslip, Sting, Quincy Jones, Béla Fleck, Pat Metheny, and Peter Gabriel.

Career

Burn began his professional music career in Los Angeles in the late 1970s, playing live in other and his own bands. His first band, in the 1980s, was "Triple Spec." They played often at Cafe Cordiale on Ventura Boulevard in Los Angeles.

He made a few recordings with Matt Catingub. In January 1983, he played vibraphone, xylophone, and bells on Catingub's album My Mommy & Me (Sea Breeze Jazz Records) featuring vocals by Mavis Rivers. In 1985, his percussion work could be heard on Matt Catingub's jazz album Hi-Tech Big Band (Sea Breeze Jazz Records), with singer Mavis Rivers. Other musicians on the album were Chris Stewart (alto saxophone); Shelly Berger (bass); Jim Hershman (guitar); Jim Cox (piano); Bill Green (soprano saxophone); Eric Marienthal (tenor saxophone); Andy Martin and Nick Lane (trombone); Carl Rowe and Richard Hurwitz (trumpet); and Mike Fahn (valve trombone). On the album, Burn sang Sting's 1983 hit "Every Breath You Take" from the album Synchronicity. He used the pseudonym "Roger 'Stung' Burn" for the recording.

In the 1990s, Burn was with the Brian Setzer Orchestra and worked on two albums. In 1996, he played piano and vibraphone on Setzer's second album Guitar Slinger (Interscope Records) alongside George Shelby, Steven Fowler, Mike Acosta, and Bob Sandman (saxophone); Robbie Hioki (bass trombone, tuba); Bernie Dresel (drums); Bernie Grundman (mastered by); Allen Sides (mixer); George McMullenand Michael Vlatkovich (trombone); Dan Fornero, John Fumo, Stan Watkins, and Charlie Biggs (trumpet).

In 1984, Burn added vibraphone and percussions to Catingub's recording of Your Friendly Neighborhood Big Band at the High School Auditorium in Santa Ana, California.

In 1993, he played keyboards on the track "Sleep" accompanied by vocalist Amy Ray. The track was included on the compilation album America on Amy Ray's label Daemon Records. The same year, Burn and Jonny Bloch played keyboards on "Long Way From Love" for Marcie Free's rock album Long Way From Love (Now & Then Records, UK).

In 1998, Burn played piano on the track "Hollywood Nocturne" of Brian Setzer's third album, a rockabilly/swing one, The Dirty Boogie. The following year, he played piano and keyboards on three tracks—"Blues For Pop", "Journey Through Life", and "Where Is One?"—for Jeff Kollman's rock album Shedding Skin (Marmaduke Records), accompanied by bass-guitarist Kevin Chown. The album was mixed and recorded at Kollman's Crumb Studios in Granada Hills, California.

Burn also performed with Lionel Richie, Tollak Ollestad, Walfredo Reyes Jr., Chaka Khan, Stevie Nicks, Lou Vega, Barry Manilow, and Ann Margaret.

Shapes

In the early 2000s, Burn formed his band Shapes with Dave Derge (drums), Mike Higgins (guitar), Andy Suzuki (saxophones & flute), and Dean Taba (bass). They released two albums—The Last Farewell (2003) and The Big Picture (2005).

In 2007, Burn played vibraphone on four tracks of saxophonist Jeff Kashiwa's jazz album Play (Native Language Music). He was accompanied by Melvin Lee Davis (bass), Dave Hooper (drums), Allen Hinds (guitar), and Russell Ferrante (piano).

Shapes performed at the Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta, Indonesia. He was also part of a backup band for Indonesian musician Dwiki Dharmawan for his "World Peace Orchestra".

Movies and television

As a studio musician, Burn worked on the soundtrack for Alexander Payne's comedy Sideways starring Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, Sandra Oh, and Marylouise Burke. The music was directed by Rolfe Kent .

Teaching

Burn was an instructor at the Musicians Institute in Los Angeles, California.

Death

Burn died from renal cell carcinoma at his parents' home in Oceanside, California, on March 29, 2009, at age 46.