A West Sacramento soldier recorded an album in World War II. It debuts 75 years later
When Jason Burt found the recordings in his late grandfather’s attic, he thought they might belong in a World War II museum gift shop. He had no idea that, months later, he’d be trying to make them go platinum.
His grandfather, Richard Burt, was a Juilliard-trained musician; before becoming a music teacher in West Sacramento, he volunteered his talents as the lead trumpet player of the 746th Air Force Band. Quite the storyteller, he often spoke of his time with the band, and his experience of being stationed in the Philippines during World War II.
One of his favorite subjects to revisit was the recordings.
In 1946, the 20-piece ensemble recorded themselves playing 10 of the era’s most popular big-band songs. When he was discharged, Richard Burt got permission to take the recordings home. His family, including Jason Burt, had always known about the recordings — but they also knew that, since the 80s, Richard Burt had no idea where they were. There were only two tracks he put on tape and preserved for posterity. Other than that, the performances would never be heard again.
That’s why, when Jason Burt stumbled upon the lost recordings in October of last year, “I knew I wanted to do something with them.” Something like updating the music, straight from a 1946 war zone, into a fully modern album.
As a history teacher at Clarksburg Middle School and founder of J&L Historical — a company that produces history materials for students — the task of merging the past with the present is well up Jason Burt’s alley. Still, his goals were relatively unremarkable until the World War II Museum “really kind of tweaked the project on a different course,”
Jason Burt offered to do the album’s cover art; the museum told him that even though the band was amateur, its album couldn’t look like it or no one would buy it. From there, the seeds of the idea — an understanding of “this rare item” that he had — grew into something far bigger.
“What if we got these World War II guys some recognition for what they did in the war, boosting the morale of frontline soldiers?” said Jason. “What if we got these guys to become platinum-selling artists? That’d be really cool.”
Jason Burt is working with a four-time Grammy-winning sound engineer to modernize the recordings, with an album release date projected around Veterans Day. In addition to the songs, the track will include a 30-minute narration Richard Burt made in the 80s. It details his years near the frontlines — like how, during his first few shows, he could hear gunfire coming from the other side of a ravine, stage lights hanging from “blown-out palm trees.”
Jason Burt hopes to donate proceeds from the album to the United Services Organization, a nonprofit that provides live entertainment to members of the armed forces. It even facilitated the shows helmed by Richard Burt and his comrades 75 years ago.
“A big part of [the project] is illuminating this side of the war,” said Burt. “That these guys played their role in making frontline soldiers feel like they were just a little closer to home — even though they were in a war zone.”
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This story was originally published June 30, 2020 at 11:31 AM with the headline "A West Sacramento soldier recorded an album in World War II. It debuts 75 years later."