Wayne was an established big band singer and her brother Nick Jerret was a bandleader who began working with Burns.

[1] In 1944, he joined the Woody Herman band with members Neal Hefti, Bill Harris, Flip Phillips, Chubby Jackson and Dave Tough.

For 15 years, Burns wrote or arranged many of the band's major hits including "Bijou", "Northwest Passage" and "Apple Honey", and on the longer work "Lady McGowan's Dream" and the three-part Summer Sequence.

Burns was responsible for the arrangement and introduction of a string orchestra on two of Ray Charles's biggest hits, "Come Rain or Come Shine" and "Georgia on My Mind".

In the 1990s, Burns arranged music for Mel Tormé, John Pizzarelli, Michael Feinstein and Tony Bennett.

In the 1960s, Burns was no longer touring as a band pianist, and began arranging/orchestrating for Broadway shows including Chicago, Funny Girl, No, No, Nanette, and Sweet Charity.

[3] In 2001, Burns died from complications of a recent stroke and pneumonia in Los Angeles, California, and was buried on April 13, 2002, in Newton.