John D. Burgess
The phenomenal John D. Burgess started off as an infant prodigy—playing on a miniature practice chanter custom-crafted by his father. When he began at age 10 taking lessons from Pipe Major William Ross at Edinburgh Castle, he rapidly advanced to preteen genius status. He became the talk of the piping world, and his juvenile competitions became standing-room-only affairs attended by some of the world’s finest piping professionals, there to witness the wunderkind in action.
He entered his first professional competitions at age 16, and in that year (1950) pulled off a clean sweep of the piobaireachd championships at both the Argyllshire Gathering in Oban and the Northern Meeting in Inverness. The difficulty of this accomplishment cannot be overstated, and it is considered extremely unlikely that this achievement will ever be duplicated.
Burgess played in the Queen's Own Highlanders and Edinburgh Police Pipe Band (for which he was Pipe Major), before accepting a piping instructor post with the Territorial Army in Inverness. He has continued his winning ways in the major competitions, some of which he has won multiple times. In the decades since his historic sweep of 1950, he has steadfastly advanced his mastery of the ceol mor, the classical music of the bagpipes, through study of piobaireachd interpretation with Angus MacPherson, a legendary instructor whose piping lineage is only two generations distant from the great MacCrimmons themselves.
Recordings featuring John Burgess
King
of the Highland Pipers
The Piping Centre 1996 Recital Series, Vol. 2, with Donald MacPherson
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