As a teenager in the fall of 1991, I started visiting the Hartt School of Music (and eventually the Artists’ Collective) to play sessions with my new friend Jimmy Greene, and there were two young Jackie McLean disciples about whom folks there spoke with particular reverence: saxophonist Abraham Burton and drummer Eric McPherson (a.k.a. “E-Mac”). Soon I got to hear them both and if anything the hype didn’t do justice to the soul, passion, and musicianship that I heard. I have been a fan of Abraham’s playing ever since but because I was such a work-in-progress up until a few years after that (by which point neither of us was CT-based anymore) we never did play together, something I’m excited to rectify as he comes up to Middletown, CT alongside Donald Edwards for the September 14 Jazz Up Close. This gave me a good impetus to re-visit some of my favorite recordings of him (to say nothing of the many others, including records by Donald Edwards, Jimmy Smith, the Mingus Big Band, Steve Davis, Duane Eubanks, and Freddie Hendrix, just to name a handful). In chronological order, here are some highlights:

1 ) “Mr. A.T. Revisited” from Wailin’ at the Vanguard by Art Taylor (1992)

It was August of 1992, a few days before I left for college, and Jimmy and Kris Allen and I made a pilgrimage to the Village Vanguard in NYC to hear the legendary drummer Art Taylor’s “Taylor’s Wailers” band, which had recently put out their Mr. A.T. record that I had been listening to incessantly. It was an incredible experience, highlighted by their fiery version of “Mr. A.T. Revisited,” an alternate melody by the same composer, drummer Walter Bolden. The whole band (bassist Tyler Mitchell, tenor saxophonist Willie Williams, and pianist Jacky Terrason, who had just taken over the chair from Marc Cary). I don’t know if this live recording (out of print but searchable on the interwebs) was from taken from the same night but wow does it still sound amazing.  

2 ) “Minor March” from Closest to the Sun (1994)

I don’t know if it’s somehow harping too much on the lineage to include direct Jackie McLean tributes (his “Ballad for Doll” from the compilation album Jackie’s Blues Bag is another such highlight), but hearing him tear this J-Mac burner limb from limb (if a tune had limbs) is as illuminating as it is exciting. E-Mac and pianist Marc Cary each get exciting solo turns in as well.  

3 ) “Mothership” from Aiee! The Phantom by Horace Tapscott (1995)

Throughout this album, Burton’s powerful presence on saxophone is the perfect asset for pianist/composer Tapscott’s notoriously unpredictable music. The alto saxophone chair in his groups was full of distinctive voices from to Arthur Blythe in the late 1960s to the resurgent Sonny Simmons in the mid-90s, and Abraham’s work here is a highlight of that lineage. Tapscott and trumpeter Marcus Belgrave also get substantial solo features here.

4 ) “Forbidden Fruit” from Cause and Effect by Abraham Burton/Eric McPherson Quartet (1998)

This evocative Burton original has a sly Latin groove, and it gives us our first chance on this list (and indeed one of the first examples in his discography) to hear him wailing on tenor saxophone. His playing is a clear highlight of the track, as is James Hurt’s fiery piano work.

5 ) “Holiday” from Artistic License by Santi Debriano (2000)

This up-tempo tune is another one with a Latin feel, but on the opposite end of the tempo spectrum. Bassist Debriano, drummer Will Calhoun, and percussionist Willie Martinez lay down an irresistible groove while Burton soars above, as do the other featured soloists, violinist Miri Ben-Ari and pianist Helio Alves, with (spoiler alert) some burning swing at the end.

6 ) “Stubbs” from Balance by Will Sellenraad (2007)

This slinky tune by guitarist Sellenraad rests atop a restrained funk groove laid down by Victor Lewis and Kiyoshi Kitagawa, and it’s one of my favorite examples of Abraham maturely blowing the blues over a backbeat. I don’t know how consciously he’s channeling Stubbs himself (John Stubblefield, a major collaborator of Victor’s, and a fellow member of the Mingus Big Band saxophone section alongside Burton) but he lives up to the tall task regardless.   

7 ) “Chamsa” from Keep it Movin’ by Shimrit Shoshan (2010)

The Burton/E-Mac partnership gets one more shout-out on this list. Pianist/composer Shoshan (E-Mac’s partner) was a shining light on the scene before experiencing sudden cardiac arrest and becoming an ancestor at the age of 29. A small silver lining is that at least she recorded a wonderful album prior to her tragic departure, and this tricky original composition is a good example of her artistry and of Abraham’s sensitive yet fiery interpretive skill.  

8 ) “It’s to You” from Return of the Jazz Communicators by Louis Hayes (2013)

To date Abraham has been a featured member of Louis Hayes’s band for nine albums dating back to the late 1990s, most of them with a frontline of him and vibraphonist Steve Nelson. This hard-swinging and energized Burton original tune (previously recorded five years prior on Hayes’s Time Keeper record) is given a workout on this live recording from Smoke Jazz Club in New York.   

9 ) “Dad” from Blacksalt by Lucian Ban and Abraham Burton (2018)

This Burton ballad was first recorded almost exactly 20 years prior on the Cause and Effect album, and it’s fascinating to hear it in this intimate duet with pianist Lucian Ban. This is their third album together and in this setting Abraham’s patient lyricism is particularly apparent and quite moving.  

10 ) “Sacrifice” from Live at Smalls by Jack Walrath (2023)

This is one of numerous highlights from the most recent of Burton’s collaborations with trumpeter/composer/Charles Mingus alumnus Jack Walrath (to date including five of Jack’s records and several with the Mingus Big Band). Two of the trends that come up repeatedly above surrounding Abraham’s music are on full display here: his capacity to bring fire (buoyed here in particular by Donald Edwards’s propulsive drumming) and his seeming ease in interpreting complicated tunes.