John Burnett Orchestra

Trumpeter and big-band leader John Burnett attended the Royal Military School of Music and the Royal Academy of Music in London, England, and led big bands in the U.K. for close to 20 years before relocating to Canada in 1980, and from there to Chicago in 1990. In 1996 he joined the staff of radio station WDCB, becoming the morning host of the show All Things Jazz. In 1999 Burnett formed an orchestra comprised of top-notch Chicago jazz musicians, some of whom had played with the likes of Glenn Miller and Barrett Deems and several had been part of Lenny King's Chicago Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra. Consisting of five saxes, four trumpets, four trombones, piano, bass, drums, and usually at least one vocalist, the orchestra, led by Burnett, specialized in 1940s-style big-band swing music. A debut album, Swingin' in the Windy City, was released in 2000 by Lakeside Records and featured jazz clarinetist Buddy DeFranco as a guest on three tracks. A second release, West of State Street/East of Harlem, appeared in 2008 from Delmark Records, this time spotlighting trumpeter Randy Sandke. ~ Steve Leggett