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Don Byron: Ivey-Divey
by Jim Santella
Don Byron's virtuosic clarinet technique allows him to stretch his limits this way and that. With piano and drums, he opens his program by setting the pace for adventure. With a glimpse of familiar melody here and a peek at remembered themes there, the clarinetist launches an improvisational tirade. Both his clarinet and bass clarinet enable him to demonstrate the capacity that jazz holds for wild and wooly adventures. Jason Moran and Jack DeJohnette form a cohesive partnership with Byron ...
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by AAJ Staff
The expression “ivey-divey," like so many expressions in the jazz world, comes from Lester Young. It was Pres' term for permanent sadness, for living in the world through the blues, life with perpetual blues feeling. The album Ivey-Divey is Don Byron's look at Pres' great '46 trio session with Nat Cole and Buddy Rich. Byron's album, with pianist Jason Moran and drummer Jack DeJohnette, is not a recreation, nor is it a mere modernization or deconstruction of the Lester Young ...
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by John Kelman
Clarinetist Don Byron has fashioned a career something akin to a great jazz history lesson. With albums like Plays the Music of Mickey Katz and Bug Music , he demonstrated some of its traditional roots, whereas Music for Six Musicians and You are #6 explored the Latin and Afro-Cuban legacies. Tuskegee Experiments and the frighteningly good live record No Vibe Zone demonstrated where jazz might be going, at least in one person's view. Now, with Ivey-Divey , Byron consolidates it ...
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by Ty Cumbie
Jazz is deep into a critical phase, through which all mature art forms must pass--look out rock, your time is coming!--the point at which the music either changes or dies, becoming something different or a dusty museum piece. All who choose to enter the field at this time face this challenge, whether they know it or not (especially if they hope to get signed to Blue Note and sell a few records). A player/composer as smart as Don Byron must ...
Continue ReadingDon Byron: You Are #6: More Music for Six Musicians
by AAJ Staff
“I am not a number. I am a free man," insists Patrick McGoohan's character on the late '60s British television series, The Prisoner. He responds to his captors' dictum, “You are Number Six," regarding his new identity. '80s heavy metal icons Iron Maiden ingeniously quote these lines as the introduction to their classic tune of the same name, “The Prisoner". Jazz clarinetist Don Byron recycles the concept, adopting this sentence from the program as the title of his latest album, ...
Continue ReadingDon Byron: You Are #6: More Music for Six Musicians
by AAJ Staff
"I am not a number. I am a free man," insists Patrick McGoohan's character on the late '60s British television series, The Prisoner. He responds to his captors' dictum, “You are Number Six," regarding his new identity. '80s heavy metal icons Iron Maiden ingeniously quote these lines as the introduction to their classic tune of the same name, “The Prisoner". Jazz clarinetist Don Byron recycles the concept, adopting this sentence from the program as the title of his latest album, ...
Continue ReadingDon Byron: You Are #6: More Music For Six Musicians
by Jim Santella
Remember West Side Story ? Remember how well the music captured the essence of New York City in the 1950s? Latin music was only a part of it. New York blends many different kinds of music that immigrants have brought into the city through two centuries of change. Due out October 23rd, Don Byron's second release for this band reflects the city's robust musical character. His Pan-Caribbean jazz setting provides stirring rhythms and colorful harmony. Bryon's clarinet and James Zollar's ...
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