In this studio visit, composer, producer, and performer Aaron Burnett plays an improvisation, discusses his upcoming performance at Roulette, and talks about how the Roulette residency has been integral to developing his work.
As part of his Roulette residency, Burnett and the Big Machine premiere Compound Gravity, a project that combines electronic live production with traditional jazz harmonic themes, and aims to explore these possibilities within the format of a small group of musicians.
Aaron Burnett began to study classical saxophone at the age 11. After attending the University of North Carolina at Greensboro for Classical and Jazz Performance (1999–2001), he relocated to Berklee College of Music in Boston for Classical Composition (2005–2008), graduating with a degree in Professional Music. Burnett has always stressed the importance of establishing a unique sound for himself while in college, studying classical Baroque composition techniques, advance harmony, world music, and atonal composition. He has performed with many renowned musicians such as Vijay Iyer, Teri Lyne Carrington, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Michelle Rosewoman, Jeff Tain Watts, and Kim Thompson, and toured with three-time Grammy winner Esperanza Spalding in her 2012 world tour with Radio Music Society. Burnett retains true nature of jazz in his music and his playing, always searching for new ways of interpreting the music while remaining modern and consistent with the times we live in.