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Don Byas

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Don Byas was one of the most respected and recorded tenor players of the 1940’s. In that fruitful period he had few peers in the the area of prolific productivity. Byas was a masterful swing player with his own style, an advanced sense of harmony, and a confidence and adventurousness that found him hanging around the beboppers and asking to play. He held his own and did so while insistently remaining himself: he never picked up the rhythmic phrases, the lightning triplets, which are indigenous to bop. Yet Charlie Parker said of him that Byas was playing everything there was to play. Born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, in 1912, he played alto as a teenager, subbing in territorial bands like Bennie Moten's and Walter Page's Blue Devils

News: Recording

Classic Don Byas Sessions 1944-1946

Classic Don Byas Sessions 1944-1946

Don Byas was a shadow. Too often in the 1940s, the tenor saxophonist was thought of by fans and critics as a close clone of tenor saxophone avatar Coleman Hawkins. In truth, Byas was a distinctive player in the same league as Hawkins and other saxophone greats Lester Young and Ben Webster. His thick, biting tone ...

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News: Recording

Craft Recording Celebrates the Enduring Legacy of Savoy Records and the Revolutionary Bebop Era with 'The Birth of Bop'

Craft Recording Celebrates the Enduring Legacy of Savoy Records and the Revolutionary Bebop Era with 'The Birth of Bop'

Featuring Painstaking Recreations of the Five 10-Inch LP Compilations That Were Originally Released by Savoy in 1952 and 1953, This Collection Includes 30 Newly Remastered Tracks Spanning 1944–1949 Craft Recordings proudly celebrates the legacy of Savoy Records with an all-new collection that chronicles the groundbreaking era of bebop (or bop) music. An essential introduction to this vital period in jazz music, The Birth of ...

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Article: Radio & Podcasts

Day of the Dead Show - A Sonic Alter

Read "Day of the Dead Show - A Sonic Alter" reviewed by David Brown


This week, we bring you G-Town Radio's 5th annual Day of the Dead weekend. For this week's Jazz Continuum program, we will feature a variety of jazz musicians paying homage to friends, mentors, and icons in the Jazz Continuum. Think of this as a sonic alter to those who came before in the music.

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Article: Radio & Podcasts

New Releases + Some Soul, Electric Funk and a Hot California set of '50s Cool

Read "New Releases + Some Soul, Electric Funk and a Hot California set of '50s Cool" reviewed by David Brown


This week new releases from Chad Taylor and James Brandon Lewis, a soulful set of Ramsey Lewis (RIP), getting funky with the Electric Eddie Harris, Les McCann and Yusef Lateef, then a shift to a hot California set of '50s cool, and more. Playlist Thelonious Monk “Esistrophy (Theme)" from Live at the It Club-Complete ...

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Article: Book Excerpts

Ugly Beauty: Jazz in The 21st Century

Read "Ugly Beauty: Jazz in The 21st Century" reviewed by Philip Freeman


The following is an excerpt from Chapter 1, “JD Allen: Just Keep Going" from Philip Freeman's Ugly Beauty: Jazz in The 21st Century (ZerO Books, 2022). Queens, New York seems purposely designed to confuse travelers. It's January 2, 2020, a brisk but sunny day, and I'm to meet saxophonist JD Allen at Samurai ...

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Article: Interview

Javon Jackson: Wading In Spiritual Waters

Read "Javon Jackson: Wading In Spiritual Waters" reviewed by R.J. DeLuke


Saxophonist Javon Jackson, he of the sonorous tenor tone and the inquisitive musical mind, embarked last year on a musical project with a different twist. Jackson, a follower of Sonnys Stitt and Rollins, is known as a a jazz fiend, one of the dauntless players of his era. His superb playing is marked by ...

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News: TV / Film

Documentary: Don Byas Returns

Documentary: Don Byas Returns

In 1970, tenor saxophonist Don Byas returned from Europe to perform at New York's Village Vanguard. He had been living abroad since 1946. A Dutch documentary called Homecoming was made of Byas's one-time return. The artist who Byas refers to as his close friend is pianist Jaki Byard. The band he plays with is the Thad ...

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Article: Interview

A Conversation with Jackie McLean

Read "A Conversation with Jackie McLean" reviewed by AAJ Staff


From the 1995-2003 archive: This article first appeared at All About Jazz in October 1998. All About Jazz: You grew up in the same neighborhood as Bud Powell. How did he impact your life? And, what was Bud Powell the man like? Jackie McLean: He certainly lived in the vicinity of my ...


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