FREEPORT, NY Trumpeter, Composer, Educator David Phillip Burns was one of two musically gifted children born to David Eriah and Sarah Jane Burns, on March 5, 1924, in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. He graduated from Perth Amboy High School in his hometown. Dave, as he was affectionately called by family and friends, studied trumpet with Carmine Caruso, as well as at the Roselle Conservatory of Music. Dave was named one of the 10 most popular trumpet players in the world by Esquire Magazine. Dave was a member of ASCAP since 1962 and a member of AGAC since 1964. He played in concert at Carnegie Hall for the first time in 1948 with the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra and played with Duke Ellington and the Philadelphia Philharmonic Orchestra in 1950, at the Robin Hood Dell Hall. Dave wrote approximately 100 songs, 25 of which have been published and 20 songs recorded by different artists. Dave worked with some of the greatest singers of all time, including Sammy Davis, Jr., Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. He intended to write a book on Jazz Improvisation, as well as one on Black Musicians in America in collaboration with Dr. Leon Dodson. Dave was the Musical Arranger Director for International Art of Jazz, Inc., for 18 years. Along with teaching at the Nassau BOCES Cultural Arts Center in New York, Dave taught in his own jazz studio for many years located in Freeport, NY, where he had been a resident for the past 40 years. The Lord dispatched an Angel to escort Dave home on April 5, 2009, at the Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Center, New York. Dave was predeceased by his loving parents, David, Sr. and Sarah Burns; adored sister, Doris Skelton; and brother-in-law, Howard Skelton. Surviving to cherish Dave's precious memory are: daughter, Rosalyn A. BurnsBrowne; son, David A. Burns; loving and devoted companion of over 30 years, Mildred Jackson; niece, Renee Olivia Skelton; sonin-law, Colin D. Browne; devoted friends, Leonard Foskey and William Lewis; also survived by a host of other loving relatives, dear friends, colleagues and Jazz Lovers World Wide! Funeral Service will be Tuesday, at 11:00 a.m., St. James AME Zion Church, 68 Commerce Street, Perth Amboy, NJ. Interment, Alpine Cemetery, Perth Amboy, NJ.
Published in The Jersey Journal on 4/9/2009