Jazz Articles about Don Byron

About Don Byron

Building a Jazz Library

The Top 25 Songs Featuring Clarinet

by Dean Nardi
April 21, 2026

As Ian Dury might have sung had he played the clarinet, “Hit me with your licorice stick." (That is “rhythm stick" for those not fluent in punk rock.) From the intricacies of classical music to the smooth swing of jazz to Klezmer--the folk music of the Eastern European Jewish population--the instrument resonates throughout a good portion of the civilized world. From slow and melancholy to gliding to blasting, to fingers flying and holes and valves opening and closing, this instrument ...

Album Review

Aruán Ortiz: Pastor's Paradox

Read "Pastor's Paradox" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
January 23, 2024

Eccellenti i brani solo strumentali, a tratti un po' verbosi, zavorrati (come accade spesso, del resto) quelli con l'aggiunta di Mtume Gant alla “dizione": si potrebbe sintetizzare così questo album del pianista cubano (ma da oltre vent'anni di stanza negli USA) Aruán Ortiz, ma sarebbe ovviamente eccessivamente semplicistico. Allora diciamo che anche gli episodi con voce aggiunta (tra i quali deve rientrare pure il conclusivo “No Justice, No Peace, Legacy!," dove lo slogan del titolo viene proferito ...

Album Review

Aruán Ortiz: Pastor's Paradox

Read "Pastor's Paradox" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
October 25, 2023

When clarinetist and saxophonist Don Byron and pianist Aruán Ortiz teamed up for the recording of Random Dances And (A)Tonalities (Intakt Records, 2018) they brought an unprecedented wealth of stylistic experiences to the studio. The result was an unconventional duo sound that blurred the distinctions between their collective comfort zones. Byron and Ortiz return on the gorgeous Pastor's Paradox, sounding joined at the hip and untethered, simultaneously. In this (mostly) quartet setting, Byron and Ortiz are joined by ...

Play This!

Don Byron: Cleo's Mood

by Ludovico Granvassu
March 1, 2023

In addition to being one of its most-forward looking voices, Don Byron has covered the whole gamut of American music--from Mickey Katz to Raymond Scott, from Duke Ellington to Lester Young and Stevie Wonder--and beyond, from Robert Schumann to Giacomo Puccini. He has done so with his signature sound, a deep understanding of those composers' traditions that didn't prevent his experimentation, and a tongue-in-cheek attitude. At the most soulful end of this eclectic range is his 2006 tribute to Junior ...

Live Review

Don Byron e Aruàn Ortiz al Pinocchio di Firenze

by Neri Pollastri
January 11, 2022

Don Byron e Aruàn Ortiz Pinocchio Live Jazz Firenze 27.11.2021 Ripresa la stagione dopo un anno e mezzo di interruzione causata dalla pandemia, il Pinocchio Live Jazz di Firenze ha presentato come evento speciale della sezione autunnale il pianista cubano residente a New York Aruàn Ortiz e il clarinettista Don Byron, che da alcuni anni collaborano in un duo assai singolare per selezioni musicali e originalità delle interpretazioni, con il quale nel 2018 hanno anche ...

Live Review

Don Byron e Aruan Ortiz in concerto al Teatro Jolly di Palermo

by Maurizio Zerbo
April 12, 2019

Don Byron e Aruan Ortiz Nomos Jazz Teatro Jolly Palermo 9.4.2019 Don Byron è forse il jazzista che meglio simboleggia la multiculturalità musicale del terzo millennio. Come ha dimostrato per l'ennesima volta il suo concerto palermitano, la cultura afroamericana è il punto di partenza di un approccio totale ad una musica fitta di intrecci tra l'avanguardia jazzistica, il blues e l'approccio eurocolto. Al suo fianco ha brillato il pianista cubano Aruan Ortiz, ...

Live Review

Bobby Zankel's Warriors with Don Byron at the Painted Bride

by Victor L. Schermer
May 7, 2015

Bobby Zankel's Warriors of the Wonderful Sound Painted Bride Art Center Philadelphia, PA May 5, 2015 This concert by Bobby Zankel and the Warriors with guest artist Don Byron (who replaced saxophonist Oliver Lake due to the latter's family emergency) was also a celebration of jazz as a rich contributor to the arts. One of the features was the presence on stage of the artist Jeff Schlanger doing one of his inspired sketch-paintings whereby ...