Buryl red biography wikipedia
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It became the nexus for scores of musicians and other artists, for educa tors, for conductors, publishers and for expert users of the newest tech nologies. Together with Michael McElroy they received a Grammy nomination as arrangers for their setting of “Joy To the World” from the Broadway Inspirational Voices CD Great Joy –– A Gospel Christmas.
Red conducted a choral performance of the song at the hymnal’s dedication ceremony in 2008, calling it “a highlight of his career,” Harland recounted.
Red’s output includes more than 2,500 published works; production of more than 4,000 recordings; the musical supervision, composition and arranging for several hundred shows, documentaries and musical specials for network and cable television; and the writing and editing of more than 50 music textbooks, according to information from a working program for an upcoming concert in Red’s honor.
A native of Little Rock, Ark., Red graduated from the music schools of Baylor University and Yale University before making his home in New York City.
He was the executive record producer, or consulting producer, for all of the most widely used school music textbooks in the United States including the recent Silver Burdett Ginn Making Music series.
In 1969, at the behest of the Southern Baptist Radio & Television Commission, Buryl Red founded The CenturyMen, an auditioned men’s chorus of professional Christian musicians who are music ministers and educators from across the United States.
Buryl was adamant that the Century Men continue, not for his own, but for the organization’s sake in realizing its mission.
~VIRGINIA RED
The men are as devoted to it as ever. He didn’t presume to suggest what that future might look like, only that it should be built upon and informed by its rich legacy, which is now imprinted on our collective memory. While a student, he was involved in the Baylor Religious Hour Choir and the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia national professional music fraternity. Starting with his first public performance at age four as soloist in a tent revival in his hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas, his musical life has been unusually diverse and eclectic.
Not Chris Tomlin — no, it was Buryl Red.”
Harland also credited Red with introducing Baptists to the style of modern worship music that came out of the Jesus Movement in the 1960s and ’70s.
“[Red] loved virtually every style of music,” Harland wrote. In the early ’60s, he served as music minister of Manhattan Baptist Church, the first Southern Baptist Church in New York City.
An April 2 email from Diane Cobb, executive secretary of the Church Music Publishers Association, of which Red was a member, described a man who was considered a mentor by many.
“He was funny without trying to be or even knowing that he was,” Cobb wrote.
He passed away April 1.
Over the years, The CenturyMen as an institution has evolved gradually but remained true to its mission. As evidence of his versatility and eclectic interests, Buryl Red enjoyed the distinction of having been nominated for Grammy awards in both the popular division (arranging) and the classical division (classical crossover).
For unfamiliar instruments he needed skilled performers and singers who had good diction and spoke as a native.
In 1969, the Radio and Television division of the Sothern Baptist Conven tion invited Buryl to become the musical director of the CenturyMen, a 100-voice men’s choir composed of auditioned music directors through out the Convention, whose mission was to share the Christian message through singing on Radio and TV, concerts, making recordings and concert tours in the US and fifteen foreign countries.
A memorial tribute concert is planned for April 29 at Central Presbyterian Church in Manhattan.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The CenturyMen, c/o Kim Bowen, 1610 Russell Avenue, Jefferson City, TN 37760 or to The Broadway Inspirational Voices, c/o Michael Reeves Associates, 224 West 30th Street, Suite 1006 New York, NY 10001.
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Laura Erlanson is operations coordinator for Baptist Press.
“… Unpretentious, championed all instruments in the church before it was popular to do so, was brilliant, listened well, loved God, loved his lovely wife Virginia and family, and was kind … he was the real deal.”
Red died in New York City, after a long battle with cancer. Martin King, director of communications for LifeWay Christian Resources, contributed to this report.
Imagine modern, rhythmic versions of old hymns for a new generation — just who did that first? It was on a ‘reel to reel’ deck, and with it we sang Buryl’s classic collection ‘The Old Songs’ — another groundbreaking idea. Released in 1972, Celebrate Life is still in print, sold by LifeWay Worship, the music division of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.
LifeWay worship director Mike Harland remembered Red in a blog post April 2.
“I’ll never forget the first time I saw a set of drums in a church,” Harland wrote.
After earning degrees in music from Baylor University and Yale University, he took up residence in New York City where he has one of the most advanced digital and computer music studios in the city. Both of these positions put him in contact with a wide array of musicians and other artists and educators pursu ing careers in the city. He is survived by his wife, Virginia, son Eric and grandson Adrian.