Don Stiernberg, Chicago area multi-instrumentalist and one of the greatest jazz mandolinists on the planet weighs in on his mentor, Jethro Burns on The Great One's March 10th birthday:

"Jethro Burns...what a great guy. I think of things he said every day, but March 10th is always a bit emotional as we count the years, wonder what he'd be saying nowadays about George Bush or Sam Bush or American Idol or Chris Thile or the Cubs spending $300 million...

But of course we were lucky to have him here as long as we did, and his comic and musical legacies are both rich. There should be a movie about this guy--WWII veteran, professional touring musician at age 12, Grammy Winning comedian, friend of Hank Williams, brother-in-law and guitar teacher to Chet Atkins... 40 albums, (most "cut" in an afternoon's time), touring partner of Steve Goodman... television and Las Vegas star during the formative stages of those media...and a person who had a dual career as writer (parodies) and jazz musician without the benefit of formal education....

Still the most astounding thing is the mandolin playing.You don't have to be into jazz or any specific style to dig and be amazed by Jethro. Just listen along with me sometime and ask yourself--"How did he think of that??!!" Any era from his career--single note swinging lines, hot fiddle tune breaks, fills between vocal phrases, and of course the chord melody arrangements--HOW DID HE THINK OF THAT?

There are so many great stories and memories, but let's not forget to revisit the notes. Very few figures in the history of American music have conquered their instrument so thoroughly and added techniques as Jethro did with the mandolin. Along with Tiny Moore and Johnny Gimble, Doug Dalton, and Paul Buskirk, he brought the language of jazz to the mandolin fretboard, also exploring split-string, crosspicking, octave tunings, electric mandolin(Fender and Gibson)and the aforementioned chord-melody solo arrangements where just about anything could and did happen...

Kenneth C. "Jethro" Burns. The Legend. The Great One.

Jeffo. Jethreaux ("French?...occasionally..") The Boss. Coach. Jethro Van Burns. The Dude. W.G.M.P..ol'Burns. The Big Guy....my hero, teacher, and friend.

I could go on and on, but I'll close by saying what I should have said much more frequently before 1989:

Love you Jethro.

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Sincerely, Don Stiernberg"

Nicely put, Don. This touching tribute is from an excerpt on the Mandolin Cafe Discussion Forum.

Check out some of the great Homer & Jethro videos on YouTube.

Posted by Ted at March 11, 2007 6:52 AM