BURTON’S BIG BREAK [:90] RUFFIN: NOW A JAZZ MOMENT Move under NEA JAZZ MASTER GARY BURTON’S BIG BREAK CAME IN AN UNEXPECTED PLACE: NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE. SESSION GUITARIST HANK GARLAND WANTED TO MAKE A JAZZ RECORD BUT COULDN’T FIND A LOCAL VIBRAPHONIST. ENTER GARY BURTON. BURTON: So one of the local musicians from Evansville who knew me, mentioned to Hank, "There's a kid up in Indiana that you might want to hear." SO BURTON DROVE DOWN TO NASHVILLE AND AUDITIONED FOR GARLAND. NEXT THING YOU KNOW, HE GOT THE JOB AND THE CHANCE TO CUT A RECORD.  BURTON: And at the end of the summer, one of the fans of our little trio when we played at the club was a guy named Chet Atkins, a famous country guitar player, and also he headed up RCA Victor's record division in Nashville. He came to me and said, "I talked to the people in New York and I convinced them that we should sign you to a contract." I was 17 and I left for school a week later with a record contract in my pocket. So that was quite a summer. Excerpt of “Move” composed by Denzil Best and performed by Gary Burton and Hank Garland from the album, Jazz Winds from a New Direction, used by permission of Sony Music Entertainment and by permission of Beechwood Music Corporation/SonyATV [BMI].