Jack Burgess

Genre:  Pop, Rock, Folk, Singer-Songwriter, Blues, Soul, R&B, Swing, Electronica

Instruments:  Electric Bass, Upright Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Piano, Ukulele, Drums, and more.

Jack Burgess, being of sound-filled mind and increasingly noisy body, does declare this to be his musical bio.

Jack was born in 1959, at THE Ohio State University Hospital, and was singing before he was talking.  Like just about every youngster alive during the 1960s, he saw musicians (Beatles first, then Monkees and many others) on TV, with girls screaming, and thought, “I can do that!”  He’s spent the rest of his life to-date proving himself wrong.  And having a blast doing it.

After teaching himself beginner-level guitar and bass, Jack began playing in bands with school friends at age 13.  In 1973, at age 14, he played his 1st paying gig (on bass, in a rock band called, fittingly, Monolith) and from there sprung involvement with countless other central Ohio bands (Oz, Cyprus, Raw Toast, etc.).  Eventually, he tired of gigging and got more involved in songwriting and recording.  He began assembling a fairly extensive home studio and collection of musical instruments, most of which he taught himself to play, such as piano, guitar, banjo, dulcimer, dobro, accordion, upright and electric bass and even drums.  Along with other central Ohio musicians, he was part of the studio bands Fuzzy Logic and HappyShack, and wrote, performed and recorded several albums, including the all-acoustic project “Folkestone.”

Soon after, the itch to play live returned, so Jack answered a “musician wanted” ad on a local website, and thus became one of the founding members of Rusty Strings, a partly acoustic, partly electric band that played a lot of original swing, pop and rock material along with covers from every decade of popular music.  Jack played guitar and keyboards, was the band’s musical director/arranger, and produced and engineered Rusty String’s album of originals, “Please Stay Tuned” (still available on iTunes, CD Baby, etc.).  Of its 11 songs, Jack wrote 8 of them, and arranged the instrumental and vocal parts for all of them.  Rusty Strings recently disbanded after 9 great years of fun, but reunion rumors suggest we haven’t heard the last of them.

These days Jack has joined a new musical collective, playing bass and doing the studio recordings for a blues, soul and R&B group called Little Patch Of Soul.  He’s also been playing a number of gigs as a bassist or keyboarder for hire, including some exciting shows with the amazing Grace Adele and her Grand Band.  He’s also made some wonderful new musical friends via an infatuation with the ukulele;  Kara Square is one of those.  Jack says, “I love making music with Kara – she’s so inventive and honest, and writes some of the best songs around.  I’m thrilled to be recording and writing with her and look forward to what may come!”

“Jack Burgess amazes me with his musical aptitude.  Collaborating with him is a fury of exciting creativity and lots of invigorating noise!  In addition to playing nearly every instrument that exists, Jack is a master in the recording studio.  We are delighted that Jack has joined us at Thinkroot Records.”

Kara Square, Founder/Artist of Thinkroot Records