Gary Burton (standing in rear) and his quartet.

There are few musicians out there who totally changed the way an instrument is perceived. What John Coltrane did for the saxophone or what Tony Williams did for the drumset, that is what Gary Burton did for the vibraphone. Inventing an entirely new four mallet technique, he expanded the instrument’s harmonic and melodic potential. While his control over the instrument is unrivaled, his ultimate objective goes far beyond the simple mechanics of playing.

“Early in your career, you’re more concerned with getting your craft better. You’re trying to impress your fellow players,” said Burton during a recent interview with DCist. “There comes a point later on when the grand challenge becomes communication. Are you getting through to the listener?”

One method the 68-year old Burton has used to keep his playing from falling into cliché is to surround himself with younger musicians. He spent a good chunk of his 50-year career on the faculty at the prestigious Berklee School of Music, often recruiting his most gifted students to join his touring band. For the latest version of his group, Burton assembled three stellar musicians. He has been playing with drummer Antonio Sanchez for several years, and it was through Sanchez that he came to know bassist Scott Colley. At just 23-years old, guitar prodigy Julian Lage is the youngest member of the band, but also has the longest relationship with Burton. The bandleader sought out a 12-year old Lage after seeing a clip of him performing on television and the two first recorded together three years later. Burton invited Lage to join the band after he graduated college.

“Any time you put together a group of highly professional players, you’ll get highly professional results. Sometimes, you get lucky and you get more than that,” Burton said of his talented musicians.

This quartet has been together since 2010 and after touring Europe and Japan, they released an album, Common Ground, earlier this year. The recording contains a mix of originals and covers with contributions from everyone in the band. While Burton often performs in larger concert halls, he is taking the group to small clubs for this leg of the tour. On Friday and Saturday, they will perform in the warm surroundings of Blues Alley.

“When you’re playing smaller venues, there’s certainly more intimacy involved,” said Burton. “I’ve been playing that club for 30 years and I like the fact that I see everybody and I talk to half the crowd during the breaks.”

Blues Alley will be a great setting to watch the high level of interaction between these gifted players. Similar to how he feels about his own musicianship, Burton hopes the audience receives something deeper than just improvisational fireworks.

“I want them to be really knocked out about the experience they just had,” he said. “You know that some audience members will know your music really well, and for others it’ll be their first jazz performance. You want them to walk away intrigued.”

The Gary Burton Quartet will perform 8 and 10 p.m. sets on Friday and Saturday at Blues Alley. $35 + $12.50 minimum/surcharge.