Who's Who With The Cast & Production Team.

(in alphabetical order)

Few things glorify a great talent more than surrounding it with other great talents. Elvis Presley worked with some of the music industry's finest singers and instrumentalists, and they are now reunited for Elvis-The Concert:

James Burton, Lead Guitar

James Burton began his career at age 14, playing guitar in the house band for Shreveport's famed Louisiana Hayride. While playing in Dale Hawkins band in 1955, he wrote the music for the hit song Susie-Q and recorded it with Hawkins. In 1957, he began a nine-year run as guitarist for Ricky Nelson, including recording sessions and concert tours with Nelson and weekly appearances on the Nelson family's classic television show The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. By the mid sixties, Burton was in demand as a session player and made some recordings of his own. Among the many artists he has recorded with over the years are: Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, John Denver, Johnny Cash. George Harrison, Rosanne Cash. Frank Sinatra, Henry Mancini, The Byrds, The Everly Brothers, Tina Turner, Elvis Costello, Andy Williams, Dolly Parton, Linda Rondstat, Hank Williams, Jr., Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Dean Martin. Glen Campbell, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Mills Brothers, Herb Alpert, and many others. Elvis himself called James Burton and asked him to help put together a band for his 1969 engagement in Las Vegas. Burton was Elvis' lead guitarist in concerts for Vegas and national tours, and on many recordings, from 1969 until Elvis' death in 1977. The next long-term gig for Burton was recording and touring with John Denver for a number of years. Today, he continues to work with a wide variety of artists in the studio and on the road, and he is involved in a broad range of projects. Among guitarists James Burton has become an icon and his influence on generations of guitar players, both the famous and the unknown, is unmistakable.

Joe Guercio, Musical Director & Conductor

Joe Guercio has enjoyed a prolific career, but he is probably best known and admired for his work with Elvis Presley. He was musical director and conductor for Elvis' concert shows from the summer of 1970 to August 1977 when Elvis made his Last concert appearance. Elvis was known for spontaneity and improvisation on stage and the cast had to be ready for anything. Guercio remembers "He'd just turn around and start a tune. The rhythm section knew him backwards and forwards, but when you're up there conducting a twenty-six-piece orchestra, what are you gonna do?" In describing that experience, Guercio once commented good-naturedly that conducting for Elvis was "like following a marble down concrete steps." This led to his being a target for a particular practical joker. Guercio later found his stage tux stuffed with marbles and a few hundred more rolling around in his dressing room. Along with the marbles was a note: "Follow the marble - E.P."

Guercio was musical director for the International Hotel in Las Vegas when the work with Elvis began. Along with the obvious contributions he made to Elvis' shows, including many of the triumphs of Elvis' "concert era"., it was Joe Guercio who created the now almost iconic six-note theme for Elvis' stage entrances and bows. It was also Guercio who suggested that Elvis' shows open with Theme from 2001 - A Space Odyssey (Also Sprach Zarathustra). The inspiration came when Guercio and his late first wife saw the now-classic science fiction movie in a theater, for when the music began Mrs. Guercio whispered to her husband "You'd think Elvis was about to enter."

Joe Guercio first left his native Buffalo, NY as an accompanist for Patti Paige. He has lived in Las Vegas since 1967 and has been a musical director for Diana Ross, Jim Nabors, Florence Henderson, Diahann Carron, Steve Lawrence, and Eydie Gormes, among others. His arrangement of the medley Sweet Inspiration/Where You Lead was a 1972 hit for Barbra Streisand, and his arrangement of The Way We Were/Try to Remember was a 1975 hit for Gladys Knight. Guercio's work with Natalie Cole to reunite her on stage with her late father, Nat King Cole, predated her famous early 1990's duet recordings and videos with Mr. Cole. Recently, Guercio accompanied blues legend B.B. King to Rome to meet Pope John Paul 11 and perform in the Vaticans fifth Christmas concert. Joe Guercio served as musical director for the Elvis in Concert '97 event in Memphis last year and reprises this role in the current tour' production Elvis -the Concert.

Glen D. Hardin, Piano

Glen D. Hardin grew up in Texas and made his Way to Los Angeles in the fall of 1961 after leaving the U.S. Navy. By early 1962 he was playing piano at the Palomino Club and soon started touring with the Crickets. Over the years he has worked as an arranger and recording session pianist with artists such as Elvis Presley, Emmylou Harris, John Denver, Merle Haggard, Marty Robbins, George Jones, Dolliy Parton, Tanya Tucker, the Everly Brothers, Ricky Nelson, Travis Tritt, Trisha Yearwood, Alan Jackson, Vince Gill, 'Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers & the First Edition Bing Crosby Andy Williams, Jim Nabors, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, jnr. Sonny & Cher, K.D.lang, Roy Orbison, Linda Rondstat, Ike & Tina Turner, Cass Elliot, Ricky Skaggs Marty Stuart, Tammy Wynette and many others. He toured with Emmylou Harris for three years, the Crickets for eleven, and John Denver for sixteen. His work has taken him all over the world. His work with Elvis -was from 1970 -to- 1976, playing concerts with Elvis. creating some of his arrangements and 'being a part of numerous Elvis recordings.
                     

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