Originally
a drummer, he
attened college at Cal
State, Northridge in 1980
as a percussion major and
also studied with legendary
drum teacher, Freddie Gruber.
He later studied piano,
vibes, marimba and composition
with the late, great Victor
Feldman. Burn’s credits include
appearances as a keyboardist
on The Tonight Show, The
Oprah Winfrey Show, The
Today Show, The John Stewart
Show, The Howie Mandel
Show, The Magic Johnson
Show, The Arsenio Hall Show, College Fund Show, The
Next Big Star with host,
Ed McMahon and The Grammy
Awards with artists such as Vanessa
Williams, Lionel Richie,
Lou Bega, Ashford & Simpson, The
Brian Setzer
Orchestra and Bryan Adams.
He has also worked with
Barry Manilow, Ambrosia,
Chaka Kahn, Shelia E., Stevie Nicks,
Richard Marx and Seal.
As a session musician, he’s played
on motion
picture soundtracks such
as The Mask, Another Stakeout, McHale’s Navy, The Nanny, Freaky Friday and Sideways. He has also
played on gold and platinum
albums, including a gold
with The Brian Setzer Orchestra
on The Songs Of Westside
Story, a tribute to Leonard
Bernstein and again with Setzer’s orchestra on the double platinum, double Grammy-winning
Jump, Jive & Wail.
Burn also recorded with
The Wild Colonials and
played vibes on two tracks
from former Yellowjackets and Steely
Dan drummer Ricky Lawson’s debut cd. He has played keyboards,
piano and vibes on jingles
for such brand names as
Target, Cadillac, Dodge,
Toyota, Acura, Pediasure
and United Airlines and
has also been heard on
such television shows as The Gary Shandling Show, Beverly
Hills 90210, The
Pretender, Melrose Place, Spin City, Ed, The Drew Carey Show, Meet The Press, Politically
Incorrect and recently contributed his compositional
skills to the critically
acclaimed drama series American Dreams.
His vibraphone playing
can be heard on the Academy Award winning hit
film, Sideways’ and is one of the principle members of the
Sideways Jazz Orchestra.
Roger is also a staff composer
for Megatrax, one of world’s
largest
library music houses and
his compositions are heard
all over the world on a
daily basis. Since January
of 1997 he has been an instructor at The
Musicians Institute in
Hollywood where he teaches courses in sight
reading, how to build a
keyboard rig and even a class called ‘Musical
Director Workshop.’
next | back | back to bios page
