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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
Albert "Tootie" Heath: Class Personified
by R.J. DeLuke
This article was first published on All About Jazz on March 9, 2015. Albert Tootie" Heath is among the drummers who lived--and thrived--during what many call the golden age of jazz, the '40s, '50, early '60s. He's enjoyed the fruits of a varied and historic career, but never stayed put. Just kept working. He ...
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 ...
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 ...
Day of the Dead Show - A Sonic Alter
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.
New Releases + Some Soul, Electric Funk and a Hot California set of '50s Cool
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 ...
Ugly Beauty: Jazz in The 21st Century
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 ...
Javon Jackson: Wading In Spiritual Waters
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 ...
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 ...