Jazz Articles about Don Byron

Don Byron: Do the Boomerang: The Music of Junior Walker

by Mark F. Turner
October 5, 2006

You might be asking “What's next? from clarinetist/saxophonist Don Byron--whose past recordings have included hip-hop, Latin/Afro-Caribbean, klezmer, mainstream and experimental jazz. But unpredictability is what makes him so intriguing; he displays not only chops and ingenuity, but also an inquisitive perception of a broad range of musical genres. With swinging originality, he dedicated his 2004 release Ivey Divey (Blue Note) to the music of saxophonist Lester Young. He now turns his attention to the funky sounds of R&B pioneer “Junior ...

Don Byron: Do the Boomerang: The Music of Junior Walker

by John Kelman
October 2, 2006

Clarinetist Don Byron is proof that one can be a serious musician and still have fun. A member of Mensa, he's a composer of “serious music like A Ballad for Many (Cantaloupe, 2006). Still, anyone who was at his Montreal Jazz Festival show this past summer knows that, whether he's reinventing Afro-Cuban music on Music for Six Musicians (Nonesuch, 1995) or mixing up Puccini with the Four Tops on Arias and Lieder (Blue Note, 1999), he's also got a down-to-earth ...

Bang on a Can / Don Byron: A Ballad for Many

by John Kelman
July 26, 2006

It's no surprise that clarinettist Don Byron bemoans the musical conservatism of the 1980s “young lions jazz movement. New York has always been richly cosmopolitan--musically and otherwise. It's also no surprise that for A Ballad for Many, his first album to focus almost exclusively on composition, he has collaborated with the intrepid new music ensemble Bang on a Can. With its unorthodox instrumentation and repertoire, Bang on a Can has always been an unusual collective, but it's perfect for Byron's ...

Don Byron: Thinking and Rethinking

by Riel Lazarus
July 25, 2006

Few musicians can lay claim to tackling the wild mix of music Don Byron has. No matter how hard critics and audiences try to corner him, the clarinetist and composer succeeds in slipping their grips, in search of new ground to break. And yet as predictably unpredictable as Byron has been, his approach to music remains constant: one of diligence, determination and unquenchable curiosity. “My intent isn't to shake people, he says. “What I'm trying to do is be good ...

Don Byron: Ivey-Divey

by Jack Bowers
December 5, 2004

Clarinetist Don Byron is much like one of those ducks in a carnival shooting gallery; just when you've drawn a bead and think you have him in your sights, he quickly disappears, only to pop up somewhere else, safely out of range. For the ducks, the purpose is survival; for Byron, it's the unrelenting pursuit of wider musical horizons.

On his latest release, Ivey-Divey, Byron has chosen to traverse the placid musical landscape of the late tenor saxophone master, Lester ...

A Fireside Chat with Don Byron

by AAJ Staff
November 5, 2004

Limited for being outspoken, Don Byron rejects media propaganda. Whether his critical disregard has impaired his capacity for audience awareness remains to be seen. What is apparent, however, is that Byron is an exceptional technician on his instruments and his music, as the man behind it, continues to evolve.

All About Jazz: Let's start from the beginning.

Don Byron: We all took music lessons.

It was required. Most of us took violin or piano. ...

My Conversation with Don Byron

by AAJ Staff
November 5, 2004

Boy, this interview sure was fun. I find most writers tend to take themselves too seriously too often and Don Byron can sense that and jumps all over it. I have no problem admitting that Byron worked me over pretty damn good. Midway through our half hour conversation, I could feel the air being sucked out of the room. But I re-buckled my belt and double knotted my laces and went back in and got one heck of classic conversation ...