Sets At 8:00 & 10:00 PM

Thursday - Sunday, August 12 - 15
DON BYRON MUSIC FOR SIX MUSICIANS

“Calling Don Byron a jazz musician is like calling the Pacific wet -- it just doesn't begin to describe it," wrote Daniel Okrent in Time magazine. “Though he made his bones as a jazz clarinetist, over the past decade he has developed a sort of musical Esperanto -- impassioned, expansive, inclusive -- distilled from the babel of styles, genres and species, both historical and contemporary, that make up our perception of music itself."

Byron is a clarinetist, composer, arranger, and social critic, who seeks to redefine every genre of music he performs, be it classical, salsa, hip-hop, funk, klezmer, or any jazz style from swing to bop to cutting-edge downtown improvisation. He has been at the forefront of the international jazz scene since being named “Jazz Artist of the Year" by DownBeat magazine in 1992. As a bandleader and along with other artists, Byron has performed at most major festivals around the world, including recent appearances in Vienna, San Francisco, Hong Kong, London, New York, and Monterey.

First formed in 1994 for the recording of his third album, Music for Six Musicians has become Don Byron's longest-standing ensemble. Paying tribute to the Latin and Afro-Caribbean rhythms at Byron's musical roots, the group is also the clarinetist's principal outlet for his own compositions. Music for Six Musicians features some of Byron's most loyal collaborators, including the great Milton Cardona on congas, drummer Ben Wittman, bassist Leo Traversa, pianist Edsel Gomez, and trumpeter James Zollar. The ensemble's second album for Blue Note, You are #6 -- More Music for Six Musicians (2002), was released to critical acclaim. “You are #6 is an album that is wide-ranging, effective, and shot through with knowing, releasing humor.It's one of the best albums I've heard this year," wrote Gene Santoro in The Nation.

Born and raised in the Bronx, Don Byron studied classical clarinet with Joe Allard and later worked with George Russell in the Third Stream Department of the New England Conservatory of Music. His artistic collaborations include performances and recordings with Buddy DeFranco, Tony Scott, Bill Frisell, Cassandra Wilson, Anthony Braxton, Steve Lacy, Marilyn Crispell, Reggie Workman, Craig Harris, Steve Coleman, Living Color, Ralph Peterson, Uri Caine, Mandy Patinkin, Atlanta Symphony, and Daniel Barenboim, among many others.