Jazz Articles about Jaki Byard

The Jaki Byard Quartet with Joe Farrell: The Last From Lennie's

by David Rickert
January 16, 2004

If anyone wanted to record a history of jazz piano, it could have been done by Jaki Byard, an incredibly versatile pianist who could play virtually any style. However, Byard was too cagey to have approached a project of that magnitude, preferring to meld his influences within the space of a single composition. Utilizing a method that at times seemed as if Eubie Blake’s left hard and Cecil Taylor’s right hand were playing in Art Tatum’s style, Byard created a ...

Jaki Byard Quartet: The Last From Lennie's

by Russell Moon
November 25, 2003

It's Party Time!

Prestige recorded pianist Jaki Byard's April 15, 1965 quartet gig at a suburban Boston nightclub called Lennie's on the Turnpike. Two LPs were subsequently produced from the session, Live! and Live! Vol. 2. Every track save one was subsequently issued on a single reissue CD entitled Live!. The brand new CD called The Last From Lennie's features the one track not included on the earlier reissue, plus unreleased recordings from the same evening.

Byard's Lennie's quartet features ...

Jaki Byard: Sunshine of My Soul

by David Rickert
December 1, 2001

Jaki Byard is one of only a few jazz musicians who can play comfortably in virtually any style. This has made him a valuable sideman for players as diverse as Maynard Ferguson and Charles Mingus, but has rendered his work as a leader as a tad all over the map, lacking any guiding force to tie the disparate elements together. Lacking a sense of focus, his solo work seems like a man trying to fit all his clothes into a ...

Jaki Byard: Solo/Strings

by Derek Taylor
November 1, 2000

Jazz history is rife with piano geniuses: Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Cecil Taylor, Herbie Nichols, and so many others. But aside from the monolithic figure of Art Tatum few if any have succeeded in blending virtuosity, imagination and a complete command of the instrument like Jaki Byard did. His senseless murder last year marked the demise of an instrumental intellect virtually unparalleled not just in Jazz, but in modern music as a whole. All that is left now are the ...

Jaki Byard: Family Man

by Jim Santella
March 1, 2000

Named for his family members, several movements from Jaki Byard’s “Family Suite" relate the deep affection the pianist harbored for his home and family. Byard made his decision early on in his career to work close to home rather than travel. Recorded in 1978, long out of print, but reissued last month for the first time on compact disc, Byard’s Family Man offers a glimpse toward several of the many styles this pianist espoused during his 60-year career as teacher/composer/performer. ...

Jaki Byard: On the Spot!

by C. Andrew Hovan
January 1, 2000

It is without exaggeration to suggest that the late Jaki Byard was probably one of the most complete pianists that jazz has seen or will likely ever see again. For this iconoclast, everything from the stride of James P. Johnson to the thundering cacophony of Cecil Taylor was fair game for further maturation and he managed to develop a style that took in the music's history, combining disparate elements with deceptive ease.

Beginning in 1961, Byard would embark on what ...

Jaki Byard: On the Spot!

by Derek Taylor
January 1, 2000

When Jaki Byard was murdered early in 1999 it was a blow to jazz music felt by many, but one that is softened slightly when one considers the incredible legacy and eclectic body of work the man left behind as an outcome of his nearly seven decades behind the keys. Over the last several years Prestige has finally been getting around to reissuing all of the invaluable sessions Byard cut for the label during the late 1960s. This disc presents ...