Chris Sharp Sculpture of Big Joe Burrell

Burlington's jazz festival honors Big Joe Burrell

Before it was unveiled Friday in a ceremony on Church Street Marketplace, the statue of Big Joe Burrell was swaddled in black cloth and cinched by a blue sash, which made his sculpted form look like a cross between a monk and a Jedi master. Neither of those designations would be far off the mark, considering the exalted status he still holds in Burlington.

Five years after his death, Burrell was honored with a sculpture outside the spot where he and his bandmates played every week - Halvorson's Upstreet Cafe - on the opening night of the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival, the 27th annual event that might not exist had Burrell not brought his saxophone and immense energy to town to help turn Burlington into a music lover's paradise.

The monument to Burrell is nice, but a stroll down Church Street was all it took to see the real impact Burrell made on Burlington. Live jazz was pouring out of Leunig's Bistro, and the most famous of Burrell's many bands in Burlington, the Unknown Blues Band, played after the ceremony a few feet from Halvorson's. As evening arrived, the festival's "Long Trail Live" concerts began on three Church Street stages, and just off Church Street at the Flynn Center, Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval and the Vermont All State Jazz Ensemble were ready to kick off 10 days of headliners.

All of that was impossible to imagine before the native of Port Huron, Mich., came to play a gig in South Burlington in 1976 and never left.

"I can't tell you how thrilled we are to finally have the statue we have waited five years for," Unknown Blues Band guitarist Paul Asbell told a crowd of hundreds at the ceremony. He talked about how he and his fellow members of local jazz stalwarts Kilimanjaro were putting together a blues project years ago and needed a captivating frontperson; that search ended quickly when Asbell saw Burrell not only wail on his sax but also sing with the passion of the true blues.

Burrell stayed in the area after discovering that his nephew, Leon Burrell, was teaching at the University of Vermont; he would live with his nephew for most of his 29 years in town. Leon Burrell talked at the ceremony about his uncle's famous connections, including being recruited by Count Basie to join his band and touring with B.B. King. Toward the end of his uncle's rich life in Burlington, Leon Burrell said he told him, "Yes, Uncle Joe, you are leaving a legacy here."

That legacy now includes a statue that joins others in Burlington, including Vermont founding father Ira Allen, Revolutionary War hero Lafayette and Civil War general George Stannard, who Leon Burrell noted, helped free the slaves. He pointed out that the newest statue in town is of a man descended from those freed slaves.

The sculpture, by Burlington High School art teacher Chris Sharp, cost about $100,000, said Sara Katz, assistant director for Burlington City Arts. She said the fundraising effort is still about $7,500 short.

The sculpture shows a wide-eyed Big Joe holding his saxophone with one hand and pointing with the other. Following the ceremony, Dennis Willmott stood near the sculpture of his former band leader and recalled the gig where the photo was taken that the sculpture is based on, in 2004 in Grantham, N.H. Willmott, a guitarist who played with Big Joe Burrell and Friends, said Burrell struck that pose and blew a timely note when he saw an attractive woman in the crowd.

"It captures his spirit, that's the main thing," Willmott said as he stood in a familiar place, near the looming figure of Big Joe. "The thing that I care about is that his presence is felt."