2000 – Burnett Family

Drummer, Richie Pratt

**PHOTO: Richie Pratt Letterhead Stationary**

This is a photo of the letterhead portion from one of the (typed and signed) letters that our eldest brother wrote to me when he was still living and based in New York City as a professional musician.

You can visit the link to his website above to learn more about his significant musical career, professional accomplishments, and biography.

He was a dozen years older than me so I was a baby most of the time during his childhood. We literally didn’t grow up together like I did with those among my siblings who are closer to me in age. We were both born in Olathe, Kansas.

**PHOTO: Richie (left) Me (right) after his homecoming.**

However, I was ultimately able to develop a very great relationship with my oldest brother as an adult largely because we were both professional musicians and we had that in common beyond just having the same mother. We grew to be close.

He was a great mentor, friend and big brother to me who was also able to fill in lots of the natural gaps in my exact middle child understanding and factual knowledge of some important aspects of our family’s history along with sharing his vast music industry experience.

VIDEO: End Credits of Stardust Memories (1980) Woody Allen film

The man was a superstar among all of us in the family. And he was a kind person. He wasn’t a saint of course. He was a NCAA Division I college scholarship athlete in his youth, so it’s easy to imagine that he wasn’t a push over in any regard.

A true standard bearer. He was based in New York City and worked at the highest levels of the music industry for decades. The competitiveness of people in the entertainment business didn’t change him. I don’t recall ever hearing him utter a bad word about anyone regardless if he experienced any lack of integrity.

He recorded, toured, and performed with the A-list of professionals.

He was in a Woody Allen film, many television commercials, and was a successful studio musician and contractor among numerous other credits.

PHOTO: L/R – Me, Jesse Newman, Richie, Curtis McClinton and our 3 eldest grandchildren from our daughter.

He lived in a nice neighborhood in Manhattan on West 87th Street where I actually got to visit him once when he was the drum soloist on Broadway for “Sophisticated Ladies,” conducted by Duke Ellington’s son, Mercer. He got me into the show.

VIDEO: Sophisticated Ladies (1981) Broadway Musical cast at Tony Awards

All of this to say that although everyone has to make their own way in life and to be successful, you have to do the work to open the doors yourself, it’s so encouraging to have a pathfinder in your life.

Nobody can give musical career success to you but having a family member who legitimately achieved success at the highest levels is priceless. At least it has been so for me personally.

**Our eldest brothers: Nate (left) and Richie (right, **after his homecoming.**)**

How?

Well (1) I could ask him how the business works and he would tell me the truth;

(2) if I was dealing with someone or a situation in an industry-related matter or concern, I could bounce it off of him for his valid opinions with confidence;

and, (3) he taught me that in the final objective analysis of the music business at the world class level the importance of always being a master of your art and craft as a professional musician is the number one objective barometer.

VIDEO ALBUM: It was cool that I was ultimately able to help my brother publish “OLATHE” his own solo album

My brother showed me that the “American Dream” still exists for all of us if we look for it inside ourselves first then focus our honest efforts on using our talents positively.

The way he lived his life also proves that people can go through difficult personal challenges in life with kindness, grace, and dignity without hate.

He’s truly a history maker in the literal sense of the term and those who biologically follow in the continuum and/ or acknowledge a connection to our related family line should also know who he was and what he did to pave the way.

**PHOTO: 7 West 87th Street (Upper West Side Manhattan), NY, NY today.**

MUSINGS IN Cb

PHOTO by Corinna Gray Photography (2023)

Christopher and Terri (Anderson) Burnett established their branch of The Burnett Family in March of 1979 in Copenhagen, Denmark. They are professional musicians, educators, and entrepreneurs based in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area.

https://BurnettPublishing.com

FINALLY

Musicians seem to always be “seeking to understand,” not necessarily to be understood. And I think that’s healthy. We’re all at different stages of development and purpose. We’re often with people and yet we are essentially always alone. We come here alone and we will leave alone.

“FINALLY” (Is Never Permanent…) DEMO
Composed and Arranged By Christopher Burnett (BMI)

ALWAYS

I am finishing up the arrangement of a new composition for my “originals” quartet, titled, “ALWAYS” and made a discovery that literally changed the entire work. This discovery was simply a chord that I substituted for the more common harmonic choice I’d originally written. The substitute chord says the same thing but with a lot more room for creative possibilities. It should be more fun for all of us to improvise over the progression too.

“ALWAYS” (Is Never Giving Up…) DEMO
Composed and Arranged By Christopher Burnett (BMI)

MAYBE

I couldn’t be more thankful for the work that I do at this stage of my career. I’m composing and arranging music for three very different ensembles. I’m doing some pretty cool work as an educator and clinician that’s valued by the community. Once a person finds their calling and purpose, the complexities of life remain, but are taken better in context. That’s the validated treasures of living to many decades of age and having quality life experiences.

“MAYBE” (It Is or Is Not…) DEMO
Composed and Arranged By Christopher Burnett (BMI)

INFINITY

Terri Anderson Burnett and I have been a family for many decades. She’s actually my “family.” We eventually learned that our spouse is our family and our children are really only loaned to us for a relatively short time. I call it life before and after kids in your home. It’s never the same as when they were growing up as little kids because it isn’t supposed to be. My family has worked very hard this entire time to be at every particular place in our life together we’ve ever been so far and it’s always fluid – never permanent. We raised our children to adulthood. We have grown from both good and not-so-good events. I still love and value her.

“INFINITY” (Is The Reality…) DEMO
Composed and Arranged By Christopher Burnett (BMI)

LATER

You are blessed if your children grow up to be productive members of society and good people. Anything more in the continuum of life is a true bonus. Fragmented families are common for various reasons like simple incompatibility and complex mental illness. But, if you and your spouse are truly best friends you can endure all of these changes and set an example of how it can be done positively. At least that is what we continue to learn. We’re blessed and thankful. We are living in a territory as a couple that nobody else who is still alive on either side of our family has experienced. We have never given up on each other and we never quit on our family. We accept that we cannot control the negative motivations or feelings of others and we also do not let such dysfunctional situations derail the overwhelmingly positive course of our life together. We are blessed and our faith tells us all things work together.

“LATER” (Is Better Than Never…) DEMO
Composed and Arranged By Christopher Burnett (BMI)

YESTERYEARS

Those who also know these things from actually living them over the years can also attest to the fact that it’s a very complex yet very cool place to be in life. But we don’t expect many to understand until they get here. And that’s really not the point anyway. The point is to never give up. All of these realities are compositionally poured into this original music.

“YESTERYEARS” (Bring Our Todays…) DEMO
Composed and Arranged By Christopher Burnett (BMI)

ORIGINALS QUARTET

This is a photo of all of the new music that I have composed and arranged for our new ORIGINALS 4tet that debuts on Tuesday March 28 as the final concert of the 2023 season noontime spring jazz series at the Midwest Trust Center on the campus of JCCC. I will be performing on alto saxophone with the multi-talented William Crain on piano, the master bassist Gerald Spaits, and the brilliant young drummer Morgan Rogers. The mockup audio demos posted to this blog are the first set of compositions for our group. I actually wrote and arranged all of this music with each of these quartet musicians’ artistry in mind and to record an album.

THIS MUSIC IS BASED UPON THE PHILOSOPHY OF ABUNDANCE (COVEY)

Scarcity Mentality is the zero-sum paradigm of life. People with a Scarcity Mentality have a very difficult time sharing recognition and credit, power or profit – even with those who help in the production. They also have a very hard time being genuinely happy for the successes of other people – even, and sometimes especially, members of their own family or close friends and associates. Conversely, Abundance Mentality flows out of a deep inner sense of personal worth and security. It is the paradigm that there is plenty out there and enough to spare for everybody. It results in sharing of prestige, of recognition, of profits, of decision making. It opens possibilities, options, alternatives, and creativity.