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saxlaw Tue, 07/18/2017 - 15:28

And if you look closely (like around 4:13), his left hand is holding the two mallets in traditional grip (inner mallet on top of outer mallet). This must have pre-dated his "aha moment" for what we know as the Burton Grip.
In explaining the genesis of the Burton grip, he has mentioned that he used to drop a mallet (or two) for solos, and then go back to four mallets for comping. But he felt it was awkward and he wanted to come up with a grip that allowed for him to hold two mallets in each hand for soloing, while allowing for speed and precision as well as the possibility of four-note voicings.
Let's see if we can find the earliest video evidence of him playing the Burton Grip....

rogersvibes Tue, 07/18/2017 - 20:43

In reply to by saxlaw

Hmm, I have a hard time seeing that clearly. If so though, it seems awfully late. I thought he had the Burton grip figured out way before he was on tour with people like Shearing and Getz. As for the mallet dropping, I recall Gary chiming in last time Tony posted this video and he said that he had a blister on his right index finger. I guess those must have stopped for him at some point. I have a pretty decent callus on my right hand index finger, but I occasionally still get blisters and occasionally do just what Gary does here. Sometimes three mallets are more than enough!

tonymiceli Wed, 07/19/2017 - 02:34

yes i thought he had his grip from when he was a kid. i can ask him when he developed it. it's funny to see an evolution of something! there he is dropping a stick, experimenting and eventually finding the best technique for him and then sticking with it for years.

he used to dampen with his palm and knuckles and that seems to have died away. i think as we get older we refine and through out stuff that is not essential. that's actually the fun part of getting older i think. streamlining things a bit.

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