Results for "Byron Wallen"

Byron Wallen

Born: July 17, 1969

Byron was raised in a musical environment and started learning his first instrument, the piano, at an early age. He then went on to study the trumpet with Jimmy Owens, Donald Byrd and Jon Faddis in New York. His early music career was forged while he was studying for a degree in Psychology, Philosophy and Maths at Sussex University (he graduated in 1992). During this period he recorded for Loose Ends and Cleveland Watkiss, and played trumpet with the likes of Mervyn Africa, The Style Council, Charles Earland, Courtney Pine and Jean Toussaint.

By the late 90s his work was receiving world wide attention and his fluent trumpet, firmly rooted in the jazz tradition, could be heard performing with a myriad of artists such as David Murray, Andrew Hill, Butch Morris, Ralph Moore, Billy Higgins, Eddie Henderson, Wynton Marsalis, Herlin Riley, Freddie Hubbard, George Benson, William Orbit, Toumani Diabate, Brice Wassy, Lonnie Liston Smith, Ronnie Laws and Chaka Khan. His trumpet has also appeared alongside African pioneers such as Hugh Masekela, Manu Dibango and Amampondo. One of the most versatile and dynamic voices on the British jazz scene, he has performed with rap outfits such as The Roots, Digable Planets and Us3.The Windrush Gala Concert in 2001 saw Byron work with Mica Paris, Caron Wheeler, Shola Ama, Roland Gift, Desmond Dekker, Janet Kay and Grace Jones. The concert was staged as a culmination of a remarkable season of programs by the BBC.

Jean Toussaint: Live At The Jazz Cafe 091218

by Chris May
October 17, 2019

Most times, the transatlantic flow of jazz musicians is from east to west. Less frequently, as with Jean Toussaint's relocation from New York to London, it is contrariwise. Hot from four years as a member of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers's Jazz Messengers, Toussaint arrived in Britain in 1987. He soon established himself as a ...

We Out Here: The Fast-Forward Evolution of British Jazz

by Chris May
July 25, 2019

After a lifetime in the shadow of its American parent, British jazz is finally coming of age. A community of young, London-based musicians is forging a style which, while anchored in the American tradition, reflects the modern Caribbean and African cultural heritages of the majority of its vanguard players. The music also addresses the race, class ...

Binker & Moses At London's Jazz Cafe

by Chris May
September 15, 2018

Binker & Moses Jazz Cafe London September 12, 2018 Binker & Moses began life around five years ago, when saxophonist Binker Golding and drummer Moses Boyd started playing ferocious, free-association duets during pre-performance sound checks as members of Zara McFarlane's band. Both musicians still tour and record with ...

Binker and Moses: Alive In The East?

by Chris May
June 22, 2018

Something wonderful is happening in London in summer 2018. A disruptive musical movement, led by an inter-connected community of young musicians, is taking jazz in vibrant new directions and finding enthusiastic new audiences. Hybridisation is the name of game, which reflects London's cultural diversity by absorbing locally created styles such as grime and broken beat within ...

Udin&Jazz 2017

by Neri Pollastri
July 18, 2017

Udine Udin&Jazz 2017 Varie sedi 4-8.7.2017 Era dedicata alle contaminazioni con la musica etnica l'edizione 2017 di Udin&Jazz, la ventisettesima della rassegna friulana sottotitolata “EthnoShock!." Come al solito ampio spazio era riservato alle eccellenti proposte più recenti dei musicisti del nord est italiano. Proprio un paio di queste hanno fatto ...

Binker & Moses: Journey To The Mountain Of Forever

by Bruce Lindsay
June 17, 2017

A double album with a title--Journey To The Mountain Of Forever--straight from the annals of Prog Rock (maybe with a short diversion via the Coltranes' spiritual jazz). A cover design that's a close relation to Led Zeppelin's Houses Of The Holy--a link made more explicit by an inner sleeve illustration that features a character in a ...

Jasmine Power: Stories and Rhymes EP

by Phil Barnes
May 14, 2016

There's something wonderful about watching a major talent emerge blinking into the harsh spotlight of the public gaze for the first time. Of course, some find the experience so traumatic that they are never heard of again, others are unlucky finding themselves in the clutches of the unprincipled sharks that inhabit the arts every bit as ...

Brilliant Corners 2016

by Ian Patterson
March 19, 2016

Brilliant Corners 2016 Various venues Belfast, N. Ireland March 5-12, 2016 Another Brilliant Corners, a few more brilliant corners. Belfast's fledgling international jazz festival may only be in its fourth year but already it feels like an established part of the city's vibrant cultural landscape, a date in the ...

Club Inégales: Where Everybody Knows Your Name...

by Duncan Heining
March 13, 2016

If Club Inégales didn't exist, it would be necessary to invent it. What price a venue in the heart of London with a policy as open-minded and eclectic as this? Club Inégales welcomes jazzers and free improvisers, baroque musicians and folk singers, poets and comedians, Japanese and Bengali percussionists and even the occasional passing shaman. The ...