A World of Piano: Greg Burk

Greg Burk (piano)

“Burk’s improvising is lucid, unconventional…on target” -Bob Blumenthal, Boston Globe

Born in Lansing Michigan, pianist and composer Greg Burk grew up in a culturally diverse and musical household. His father, Dennis Burk, was an internationally active conductor and the son of Russian and Polish immigrants. Greg’s mother, Giovanna Collonelli, moved from her native Italy to the U.S. in her 20’s. They met in Milan where both were studying at La Scala.

At 15, Greg discovered jazz and by 16 he was working professionally, playing solo piano gigs. Before leaving high school he performed at Down Beat Magazine’s Music Fest in Chicago where he was awarded outstanding soloist. Burk’s decision to become a professional musician was solidified as a teenager when friend and Detroit- based bassist Rodney Whittaker took him to hear and sit in with veteran jazz musicians and the talented younger players from the Motor city’s fertile musical scene.

Greg enrolled at UMASS Amherst to study composition. He was very fortunate to have Yusef Lateef and Archie Shepp as teachers. “Lateef’s approach to teaching improvisation and composition was as organic and spiritual as it was systematic and disciplined,” Greg remembers. “This approach allowed me to cultivate my ideas freely while tempering them with form and specific materials. Shepp’s teaching was more hands-on and involved playing Parker and Ellington tunes each week.” With composer/bassist Salvatore Macchia, Greg’s studies included aural training, orchestration and composition. He finished his degree at the University of Michigan, where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in English and Music.

After graduation, Greg settled in Bratislava, Slovakia, from which he toured throughout Czechoslovakia, Poland, Austria, and Italy, appearing in clubs, at festivals, and on radio and television. A year later, Greg moved back to Michigan where he found a fertile environment for growth in the dynamic musical climate of Detroit with its diverse mix of genres, venues, and generations of musicians. In Detroit he worked with veterans Larry Smith, Bobby Battle, Donald Walden, George Goldsmith, the Graystone Big Band, Francisco Mora, Steve Wood, Roy Brooks, and Jaribu Shahid, as well as blossoming contemporaries like Gerald Cleaver, Mark Hynes, Vincent Chandler, Mike Graye, James Carter, Cassius Richmond, Rodney Whittaker, and Dwight Adams.

At 25, Greg moved to Boston and enrolled at New England Conservatory (NEC), where he earned a Master’s Degree in Jazz Studies, having studied composition with George Russell and piano with Danilo Perez and Paul Bley. Russell’s concept had a profound impact on Greg’s musical thinking, as did Bley’s open approach to improvisation. He also had the opportunity to play as a student with Curtis Fuller, Sam Rivers, Cecil McBee and the George Russell Big Band. Greg credits the combination of this progressive education with the dues he paid playing bebop in Detroit as the catalyst for creating his own inside/ outside approach.

After earning his Master’s, Greg continued to live in Boston, teaching at Berklee College of Music and working as an in- demand sideman with notable musicians like John Tchicai, Jerry Bergonzi, Garrison Fewell, Steve Grossman, Steve Swallow, Don Moyé, Frank Lacy, Bob Moses, Rob Mazurek, Peter King, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Mulatu Astatke, Kenny Wheeler, Benny Golson, Roberto Gatto and others. He also joined the Either/Orchestra with which he toured Europe, Africa and the U.S.A. He appears on three recordings of the E/O including “Live in Addis” that was released as part of the prestigious Ethiopiques series on Buda Musique.

Burk’s international recording debut, “Checking In”, was released in 2002 by the historic Italian label Soul Note. In 2004 Burk resettled in Rome Italy with his family. The next decade saw the release of numerous recordings by Burk on labels such as Soul Note, Jazz-werkstatt, Steeplechase Records, Ra Kalam Records, Accurate, New York based 482Music and most recently on Tonos Records, a label Burk founded in 2019. Burk has appeared in solo, trio and with various formations at Jazz at Lincoln Center (NYC), Ronnie Scotts (London), Blue Note (Milan), Regattabar (Boston), Porgy and Bess (Vienna), A Train (Berlin), Centro Cultural Belem (Lisbon), Duc de Lombards (Paris), Auditorium Parco della Musica (Rome).