ARC-2277 CHRIS BURNETT – 5 GENERATIONS – AUDIO CD

Happy 2011! Thanks to everyone who participated in the http://VirtualJazzCD.com/ initiative and also those of you who joined the Chris Burnett Limited Edition CD Project Members.

As you know, a lot of time, planning and effort has gone into realizing this project. The title of the release is “5 Generations”. “5 Generations” will be released world-wide on the Artists Recording Collective label (http://ArtistsRecordingCollective.biz/) and will be available in the limited edition CD and digital files of all variations. There will be a downloadable free .pdf Press Kit available soon.

The “5 Generations” CD Press Kit will contain the thesis and motivation behind the CD, artist bios and other information that will not be listed on the CD product itself…

Many wonderful people of various generations helped to fund this recording by pre-ordering and purchasing their limited edition copies of the manufactured CD of this music. All of you are considered Executive Producers in this context by me and will have your names listed on the CD product with that credit. Thanks for your support and patience during the innovative process we used to make this happen.

We received enough funding via pre-purchase of CDs that we will be able to use those funds toward our marketing efforts when the recording is released in August 2011. Although, the primary funding was not achieved through this first attempt at “fan funding”, I am encouraged and honored by those who did participate nonetheless.

This project is officially closed, but look for the CD Project Website soon… THANKS again!

More to follow…

Peace, Cb

ARC-2277 CHRIS BURNETT – 5 GENERATIONS – AUDIO CD

Since the primary goal is to document my original compositions on record, the current plan is to go to New York/New Jersey and record the music with some friends and colleagues who are based in that region.  More to follow…

• About
• PART I
• PART II
• PART III
• PART IV
• PART V

BUY NOW – Purchasing your membership today makes you an official Executive Producer of this project and you will receive a copy of the final Limited Edition CD product, along with your name printed on the CD panel.

Executive Producer Memberships – $30 USD

The progress has been pretty steady with regard to Friends and Fans actually spending the $30 to support one of the areas of the VirtualJazzCD.com initiative.  Our latest Executive Producers are:

Phil Traynor (Florida)

Stephen and Marianne Tennant (Kansas)

If everyone who joined this page purchased their membership, we’d literally be able to complete two areas of production…  now to get more of these documented supporters of the VirtualJazzCD.com project to actually take the step of buying their Executive Producer Membership.

Nonetheless, all of this is tangible progress and VERY encouraging.  Thanks again to everyone who is supporting the VJCD project in both, deed and spirit!

Peace, Cb

@FACEBOOK: Chris Burnett Limited Edition CD Project

GET YOUR: Executive Producer Membership HERE

With our new ChipIn page, fans and friends can contribute any amount to the VirtualJazzCD.com project.

This option is ideal for those who wish to contribute amounts between $1.00 and $29.99. Or for those who wish to contribute, but may not want to be recognized as Executive Producers.

Chris Burnett fan funded VirtualJazzCD project

Welcome to VirtualJazzCD.com – To order your CD(s), just go to the order page at the link below and use the drop-down order form to choose which part(s) you want to be an executive producer for, then push the “Add To Cart” button to place your order.  Our orders are processed using PayPal’s secure servers and various payment methods are available.  THANKS!

GoTo – http://www.burnettmusic.com/executiveproducers/purchasepage.html

CHRIS BURNETT FRIENDS AND FANS - go here!

21ST CENTURY MUSICIAN: “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing”
[Musing In Cb on Thursday, September 24, 2009 | Download .pdf of this Musing In Cb]

We are almost a decade into the 21st Century and I still run into too many people working as professionals in the music industry today who harbor attitudes that are more in line with those of people who worked in the industry 50-70 years ago. And, at this point, there is a perversion of many of the old ways of thinking that were necessary “back in the day” that seemingly ignore that conditions for musicians have drastically changed due to the changes in the industry. I say perversion, because most of us were not alive or even significant working pros of those times.

When I hear people younger than I am portending to “know” what it was like “back in the day”, I find such a dynamic comical at best and cynical at worst. I am 53 years old – with adult children and young grandchildren; and I was only 4 when “Kind of Blue” was released. So, anyone younger than I am should really get a grip on themselves in this context because they surely got their information from a book, a class or by word of mouth from some other human who may or may not have all of the facts correct …

The point is that you can’t utilize a half century old business mindset and social paradigms of the past to engage an audience in our times – it doesn’t work. You can’t use archaic leadership and management styles in contemporary application of presenting the artists of today – no one will come out to your productions, much less sustain the art. Historic figures are great, but there are not many of those musicians still living and working today. And, the music that most of us creative musicians perpetuate isn’t intended to be an historic relic of the art form.

Okay, let’s run it down…

I believe there is a conditioned reflex where the jazz music genre is concerned. In an effort to not be left behind, some aspects of the establishment do not want the industry to move forward. Rather than remain current with the times and technology, too many seem to find it easier to stay in whatever comfort zone they might find themselves. That’s naturally human nature – we despise change in most any context and will usually resist it to the death. We often also habitually cling to the familiar, no matter how abusive or dysfunctional it may be…

I also believe that many areas in our profession will remain stagnant until we, as artists, have collectively moved into an attitude of self-reliance; rather than one that seems to be looking for a record company (or some other patronizing institution) to support our existence as artists.

Today, if you can gain access to a computer and Internet connection (your own machine or use of one at most any public library), there are so many resources available to artists in our age. Many of these resources are free. We have never seen this type of autonomy in human history.

Changing of the guard – is a good thing…

Jealousy over another artist getting signed in this age is almost too stupid. All, yes all, of the signed artists I’ve ever come across and interacted with personally were more than gifted performing musicians. They were also astute business people who had an assembled organizational team around them that had usually been operating as such for many years – regardless of the artist’s age.

When someone who has never been signed to a major record label tries to tell me who should be (or rather deserves to be) signed to a major record label contract, it is all I can do to keep from laughing out loud at how ridiculous that sounds. And yet, there are many esteemed colleagues who perpetuate this dynamic – not only among peers and in public, but they fill the heads of our young kids under their tutelage with this type of nonsense. That’s obscene.

I personally know a pianist who was eventually signed to a major record label contract. This young cat has been an organization since he was 11 or 12 years old. So, it surprises me when I hear older musicians “hate on” him, because in doing so these “haters” reveal that they really don’t have a clue how business actually works.

Gatekeepers

I have also heard too many colleagues state that there is so much mediocrity being released and promoted on CD today. I almost always laugh, if not out loud when I hear such nonsense, at least to myself. Most of the people in every profession or field are mediocre – if we consider the use here as a “put down” for being the average B+ student that most people inherently are.

Gatekeepers generally have had the power to say who gets recognized for their work in the field of music. Additionally, gatekeepers have also had the power of deciding who should be presented to the public and then what the public should think about the chosen ones. I say this was as much of a social condition as it was anything artistic. Yes, it is a given that the artist must be a first-rate talent. We won’t even go there. But, the society of jazz musicians during the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and part of the 1970s was not as open to minorities and women as our 21st Century society is. Research the expatriate movement among jazz musicians as validation.

Such power is now in the hands of the listener and buyer – where it should always be…

If someone is in this music to be a gatekeeper as they existed in the old school paradigm of the jazz world, they need to get another angle because folks don’t need others permission to create or present their music to the world. You may keep me out of your club or festival, but you can’t keep my music from reaching people via the Internet or through concerts in my community. You certainly do not have the power to keep me from writing original music, doing research in the field, then making professional recordings and releasing them to the world.

It’s a big world.  There is opportunity for everyone to be very successful…

Peace, Cb

© Christopher L. Burnett. All Rights Reserved.
—

Don’t You Worry About A Thing – Stevie Wonder
*From the verses of: “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing” by Stevie Wonder

Time Flies (Original Master) – Chris Burnett

Yes, This is Free and Legal Music!

Listen to the entire debut “Time Flies (Original Master)” CD for free at Rhapsody and I still get a royalty payment… cool… exciting times for musicians!

Military Musicians + One = GREAT Jazz!

The Time Flies (Original Master) CD features the first jazz ensemble that I led after completing my career with the military bands.  It presents seven of my original compositions with the support of my first great rhythm section of Jeff Stewart on piano; Elliot Kuykendall on electric and acoustic basses; Kenny Baldwin on drums; and, Bob Habib on Latin percussion; with a guest performance by Chicago-based jazz pianist, Benjamin Lewis on “To Each His Own”.  With the exception of Ben, all of the artists on this CD are military music program alumni.  This album was also recorded before we moved back home to the Kansas City metro to live…

Internet Music Pioneers?

Benjamin Lewis is a professional jazz pianist in the city of Chicago, and was founder of the MIDI Jazz Network (MJN), one of the first experiments in online music collaboration.  I met Ben online through various music networks like Res Rocket that I found while exploring the Internet after I’d finished working at my family’s music store for the day.

Track 7, “To Each His Own“, was composed, arranged and produced in 1999.  Ben and I did the entire arrangement you hear by sending MIDI files back and forth to each other via email.  There were only telephone modems to connect to the Internet for most people back then.  And, computers were very slow beasts in those days too…

Interestingly enough, I have been told that this is one of the earliest professionally produced Internet musical arranging collaborations that was actually published and manufactured to a commercially distributed CD.  I am sure that it likely was.  But,  my primary excitement about this research period was that I could be out in the middle of nowhere living in the beautiful Ozarks and this guy could be living in Chicago, yet we could create music together using the Internet as a viable professional platform…

Arts Collaboration

The cover artwork to all of my CDs contain the fine art paintings by Sintha.  The new Limited Edition CD Projects will include her work integrated into the design as well by our graphic designer at Disc Makers.

Peace, Cb