John Burk

John Burk was born in Oakland, CA and attended high school at De La Salle. He studied Music and Business at the California State Universities, Chico and East Bay, earning a degree in Music Composition. He began working as a professional musician in his teens and began producing records in the late 80s, landing a job as a staff producer at Concord Jazz in 1989. Before his passing in 1995, Concord Jazz founder Carl Jefferson asked Burk, along with Glen Barros, to helm the label. Burk and Barros formed the imprint Concord Records as a vehicle to expand the company's musical offerings into a wider array of genres. Under John's creative direction, Concord diversified its artist roster and grew from a boutique jazz label to one of the largest independent music companies in the world.[5][6] Some of Burk's notable artist signings include Esperanza Spalding, Christian Scott, Ray Charles, Ozomatli, James Taylor, George Benson, Al Jarreau, Chick Corea, Keb Mo, Billy Gibbons, Best Coast, The Record Company, Elvis Costello, Southern Avenue, Lindsey Stirling, Jazzmeia Horn, Nubya Garcia, Santana, and more.[7][8][9]

As a producer, John has worked with a wide variety of artists including Ray Charles, Poncho Sanchez, Tito Puente, Mel Tormé, Jimmy Smith, Ozomatli, George Benson, Al Jarreau, Paul McCartney, Jill Scott, Norah Jones, James Taylor, B.B. King, Melissa Etheridge and more. Burk is a four-time Grammy Award winner. His productions have earned a total of 23 Grammy nominations and 12 Grammy Awards. One of his productions, Ray Charles’ Genius Loves Company, won both Album of the Year and Record of the Year.[10][11] Genius Loves Company was also the cornerstone of Concord's groundbreaking relationship with Starbucks, establishing the coffee chain as a major music retailer and leading to Concord's partnership with Starbucks and the formation of the Hear Music label, which launched with the signing of Paul McCartney.[6][12] John has been a pioneer in immersive audio and received the first ever Grammy Award for Surround Sound Production.[13][14] He was also responsible for discovering and developing the career of Esperanza Spalding, who was the first jazz artist in history to win the GRAMMY for Best New Artist for 2011.[15][16] Burk was recognized as one of Billboard’s 2019 Indie Power Players. John has served multiple terms on the Board of MusiCares and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the GRAMMY Museum Foundation. He also serves as a national trustee of The Recording Academy.[17][18][19][20]