By Ron Wynn
NASHVILLE, TN — One of the nation’s top vocalists returns to the Nashville Jazz Workshop’s Jazz Cave August 5.
Veteran West Coast vocalist Gary Brumburgh will be performing tunes from his latest project “BeatleJazz: The Later Years 1865-1970.” Brumburgh has spent decades working in every end of the Los Angeles entertainment industry, but since the early 2000s has specialized in jazz.
The father/son duo of pianists Terry and Jamieson Trotter provided the musical backing for his first jazz CD “Moonlight.”
That LP remained on the Jazz Week charts more than five months. Another area that Brumburgh has pioneered involves concerts raising money for cancer research . His Jazz vs. Cancer concerts have not only been good for medical research, but artistically have featured such top jazz vocalists as Tierney Sutton and Cheryl Bentyne from the Manhattan Transfer.
A lover of Beatles’ tunes since his teen years, Brumburgh intially began exploring jazz versions of their songs on record with “Beatlejazz: The Early Years: 1962-1966.” It was released in 2017. This past Christmas “Beatlejazz: The Later Years” was released.
Brumburgh has also been featured on the CD “Full Circle,” which presents him working in a different vein. That disc features reworkings from such musicals as “Cabaret,” “South Pacific,” “Company” and “Oklahoma,” all of which he appeared as an actor. He’s been a Nashville resident since 2018, and currently hosts the Nashville Jazz Jam with primary guest keyboardist Ted Wilson and other guest singers and musicians every Saturday from 2-4 p.m. at Christ Lutheran Church.
.Several songs from “Full Circle” have been aired on Nashville’s only jazz station WFSK-88.1FM.
An extra bonus of the August 5 show will be the audio and video premiere of Brumburgh’s version of the Billy Strayhorn classic “Lush Life.” The premiere follows the show which begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $40 and are non-refundable. Streaming tickets are $20.