Jason Burt and his family hadn’t seen his grandfather’s World War II records since the ’80s.
Richard Burt, a Julliard-trained musician and World War II veteran, was the lead trumpet player in the 746th Air Force Band and in 1946, his 20-piece ensemble recorded 10 chart-topping big band songs of the time period.
Once discharged, he was granted permission to take the recordings home to West Sacramento.
It wasn’t until after his grandfather’s death in 2016 that grandson Jason Burt found the records in his attic.
And now, the musical recordings will be available to a wider audience, just in time for Veterans Day.
“Most people want to hear about the guys and all the action and stuff, winning medals and things,” Jason Burt said. “So it evolved into, ‘What if we can make these amateur musicians into platinum selling artists with this album they created in the Pacific 75 years ago?'”
Jason Burt tested out the records and was surprised to find that they still played.
In the logical next move for a historian, Jason began doing research about how common these types of records were.
He contacted the National WWII Museum in New Orleans but was told that while they were interested, the museum did not produce music, and were worried the final product could look amateurish.
So he researched sound technicians and engineers who had won Grammys for best historical albums. A few reached back out enthusiastically, and Jason ended up working with Gavin Lurssen and Rueben Cohen of Lurssen Mastering to digitize and clean up the records.
He also worked with New York-based sound engineer Hiroyuki Sanada. For Sanada, this project was personal.
“Sanada is so deep into this project and became so interested (because) his grandpa was serving in the same part of the world, but on the Japanese side,” Jason said. “I ended up working with some of the best sound engineers in the industry, in my opinion, and we created this album.”
One of the tracks on the album is a 28-minute narration, where Richard Burt talks about his wartime experiences.
Listeners can hear him describe a makeshift stage, as GIs climb up blown out palm trees and the sound of gunfire snapping can be heard in the background.
Jason thought long and hard what he wanted the album name to be. Eventually, he settled on “Sentimental Journey.”
“I settled on one of the album songs (titles),” Jason explained. “It kind of fits the bill of what the album is and feels like.”
In some ways, Jason considers himself the black sheep of the family. While his family was very musical, he grew up as a jock and later became “the history guy.”
Jason is a self-described history buff, teacher and the founder of the J&L Historical, a company that produces historical content for students.
“I can’t even read music, or play an instrument, but most of my family can,” Jason said. “I kind of always viewed this project as my contribution to (my grandpas’s) musical legacy, because I never picked up an instrument or bothered to learn how to read music.”
But since embarking on the journey of producing this album, Jason says it’s felt like flipping a switch.
“It’s almost like when I started diving into this, a light switch went off and all these things just felt natural to me,” he said. “Jumping into this and doing all this stuff for my grandpa. It’s been fun seeing the music side of life, from the perspective he must have had being a musician himself.”
Ultimately, Jason’s goal has always been to get his grandfather and his bandmates recognition for their contribution to society. For this reason, he hopes to donate a portions of the proceeds to the United Service Organizations.
“You’re going to own a piece of WWII history that you can’t find anywhere else,” Jason said. “You’re going to do something cool that makes you regular Average Joe, WWII veterans platinum selling artists, and you’re gonna raise some money for a really cool charity.”
To purchase “Sentimental Journey” or for more information, visit 746thfeaf.com/music.
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West Sacramento veteran’s lost WWII album debuts 75 years later - Woodland Daily Democrat
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