[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 21 (Tuesday, March 1, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E312]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      VERMONT'S GREAT JAZZ MASTER

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. BERNARD SANDERS

                               of vermont

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 1, 2005

  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Speaker, Vermont's great jazz saxophonist, Big Joe 
Burrell, died on February 2 at the age of 80. He was born and spent his 
early years in Port Huron Michigan. The story of his start in music is 
legendary. Here is how Brent Hallenbeck recounted it in the Burlington 
Free Press:

       As a shy 10-year-old, he approached his mother's boss and 
     asked to borrow $5 so he could buy a saxophone.
       ``Saxophone?'' the man asked. ``What are you going to do 
     with a saxophone?''
       ``I'm going to play it,'' little Joe Burrell told him. And 
     he did, mastering his instrument in the next few years. After 
     serving in the U.S. Army during World War Two, his musical 
     career took off. At an Akron dance he played the opening act 
     for a B.B. King performance, and King thereafter asked Big 
     Joe to play saxophone in his orchestra. He would go on to 
     tour with King for almost two years before meeting up with 
     another major figure in American music, Count Basie.
       Basie invited Big Joe to play in his club in New York and 
     would become the major musical influence in Big Joe's life. 
     ``Count Basie was the predominant influence on me until the 
     day he died, and still is today,'' Burrell said in 2002.
       Ten years of playing in Canada eventually brought him to 
     Montreal, from where it was an easy journey to play a date in 
     Burlington, Vermont. There he discovered his nephew, Leon 
     Burrell, was a professor of education at the University of 
     Vermont. The meeting was doubly fortuitous: Leon invited Big 
     Joe to live with him, and he made Leon's home his own for 
     many years. And Vermont gained its most well-known, most-
     well-beloved jazz musician.
       Big Joe jammed with fellow musician Paul Asbell, and out of 
     their collaboration was formed an ensemble called The Unknown 
     Blues Band. The core of The Unknown Blues Band included 
     Asbell, Chuck Eller on keyboard, Tony Markellis on bass, and 
     Russ Lawson on drums, and of course, Big Joe. Not only did 
     they make music, but they shaped a whole new generation of 
     musicians. Big Joe, who played with BB King and Count 
     Basie, Etta James and Little Richard, was a formative 
     influence on Trey Anastasio, the guitarist for Phish. In 
     fact, Burrell played guest appearances with Anastasio's 
     band in recent years.
       Last year, the Unknown Blues Band celebrated its twenty-
     fifth anniversary. The band was a Burlington staple, playing 
     at gigs everywhere and most especially at a weekly 
     performance at Halvorson's Upstreet Cafe in Burlington. Even 
     as age seemed outwardly to slow him down, Big Joe kept 
     performing at his customary high level. Cafe owner Tim 
     Halvorson told the Free Press, ``He'd shuffle in with his 
     walker or a cane, but, boy, as soon as the music started and 
     he got a glass of Canadian Club and he grabbed his saxophone, 
     he was 30 years younger.'' As his nephew Dr. Leon Burrell 
     said, speaking of his last performance just a month ago, ``He 
     went out doing what he did best. It's like a cowboy dying 
     with his boots on.''
       Big Joe was a big man--not only in physical stature, but 
     big in heart. He loved music, he loved people, and he loved 
     playing in Vermont. Vermont loved him back. He was an emblem 
     of the amazing power of jazz, our nation's preeminent form of 
     music. He showed all who lived in the Green Mountain State 
     how jazz can speak to each of us, directly, deeply; he showed 
     us that the music born in the South and in the big cities of 
     the Mid-west has flowed, like a mighty river, all through our 
     nation. He was an important tributary of that river, and all 
     of us in Vermont who love music will remember Big Joe for 
     that, and for the wonderful performances he gave us, time and 
     again.

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