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Meet Mike Burton

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Burton.

Mike, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. My interest in music started at an early age. My Dad had a nice record collection. As a youngster he had me listening to The O’jays, Earth Wind & Fire, Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Billy Paul and many other great soul/R&B artists. My Mom was always singing around the house and at church on Sunday mornings. When I was around 10 or 11, she joined the Mississippi Mass Choir, and that was it for me. I had the music bug. For the next few years, I had a front-row seat to what was at the time, the number one selling gospel group in the country. I would tag along with my mom to their choir rehearsals, live recordings, and sometimes my Dad and I would join them on the road. At the time, I didn’t know if I wanted to sing or play an instrument, but I knew I wanted to be a musician.

In 7th grade, I started beginner band and picked up the saxophone. At first, all I wanted to do was be in the marching band. I wanted to march like Jackson State’s Sonic Boom of The South. But by the time I got to high school, my parents encouraged me to audition for Jackson’s performing arts high school, APAC (academic and performing arts complex). I was accepted, and for the next four years, I would be set on a path to pursue music as a career. My teachers there exposed us to jazz improvisation, music theory and history.

The summer after my junior year of high school, I was in Boston at Berklee College of Music’s summer performance program. There, I was exposed to amazing young musicians from all over the world. Back home, I was kind of a big fish in a small pond. I actually thought I was pretty good. Lol! But in actuality, I had so much to learn. That experience in Boston let me know that I need to broaden my horizons and perhaps attend college out of state.

I ended up at Indiana University, Bloomington, majoring in Jazz Studies. IU was great for me. The director of the jazz program, the late great David Baker, was one of the architects of jazz education. He ran a tough program at Indiana, but I’m glad that I was able to learn from one of the masters. Also, while at Indiana, I was in an ensemble called the IU Soul Revue. This group, still around today, was really the training ground that prepared me for what I’ve been doing since I graduated from college. We played and celebrated black popular music from the Motown era through the present. I was arranging and playing horn lines for the student horn section. After I graduated with a bachelor of music, this ensemble also gave me an assistantship which helped me pay for my master’s degree from Indiana.

After college, like most graduates, I was looking for a job. I knew I wanted to be a touring musician, but I didn’t know the first thing about breaking into that world. So, I started applying for teaching jobs at colleges. Nothing panned out, then one day a buddy of mine offered me his gig with the Universoul Circus (a black-owned circus based in Atlanta), I jumped at the opportunity, and two months after graduating with a masters degree from the prestigious Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, I joined the circus. I would tour with the circus for two years, traveling the US from coast to coast, checking out every jam session I could. Cutting my teeth on the bandstand. In 2004, the band was cut from the show, and I was out of a job. I had moved to Atlanta two years prior to that, but I was rarely ever home.

Once I got back to town, I released my first solo project, “Sojourn.” It was self-produced, and I played most of the instruments on it. A buddy of mine, Melvin Baldwin, mixed and mastered the project. He just so happened to be the drummer for New Edition at the time, and they were looking for someone to play keyboards and saxophone on their upcoming tour. Melvin knew that I played a little keys, because he had mixed my record, so he recommended me for the gig. And before I knew it, I was on the road.

Once the New Edition tour ended, I was once again looking for a gig. I’d been offered a teaching job at Benedict College in Columbia, SC. In my heart, I knew that I wasn’t ready to give up on playing full time, and my fiancé (now my wife of 13 years), encouraged me to follow my dreams. So I turned down the teaching position, not knowing how I was about to make a living. Two weeks later, it was my birthday, and we end up going to a jam session at Cafe 290 in Atlanta. It just so happened that Ronnie Garrett (Tyler Perry’s music director) was there looking for me to play saxophone in a scene for Tyler’s upcoming movie, Madea’s Family Reunion.

This was a Sunday night. Two days later I was on set working in my first movie. While filming, I asked Ronnie if they were looking to take a saxophonist on the road. He asked me if a played keyboards. I said yes. He left for a second to talk to Tyler and when he came back, he told me I had the gig. The play, Madea Goes To Jail was going on tour in a few weeks. That tour would turn into ten years of working on plays, movies, and tv shows. After that, so many doors have opened for me. I’ve gone on to work with Jill Scott, Anita Baker, Mary J Blige, PJ Morton, Adam Blackstone and many others.

In 2012, with the help of my brothers Melvin Jones, Wilbert Williams, Tres Gilbert, Ray Marshall, and Derek Scott, I started the Good Times Brass Band/Good Times Horns, which has been such a blessing. God bless the child that’s got his own. Over the years I’ve learned the importance of establishing and nurturing relationships. Your name is all you have in this business. Always be of good character. Be on time. Know your music and be a good person. I think that, along with faith in God and a loving and supportive family, has gotten me to this place in my career.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has definitely been rough along the way, but no one’s story is without obstacles. When I finally realized that I needed to brand myself, and create my own opportunities and stop waiting for someone to call me for an opportunity, things got significantly better. It’s a cliche quote, but it’s true. “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.“ As a working musician, that means that we can’t put all our faith in one gig, one artist, one situation. Create streams of income. Brand yourself. Surround yourself with like-minded people who push you to be great. Build relationships with those who are where you want to be.

We’d love to hear more about your work.
I’m a musician. I’m a producer. I’m an arranger. I believe that our horn section, #GoodTimesHorns, is one of the premier horn sections in the country. We’re all college-educated musicians, meaning we can read, write, and arrange music. But, we also grew up in the black church. We can play by ear, and have the ability to create on the fly.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
So many great memories from childhood…one of my favorites would have to be going to Jackson State University football games with my parents. I make it a point to take my daughters to at least one game every year. We look forward to the drive from Atlanta to Jackson. There’s nothing like HBCU culture, and Jackson State is one of the best! I love exposing my kids to a little bit of what I grew up experiencing every Saturday in the fall.

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Image Credit:
Derek Blanks
Dwan Johnson

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