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 Billy Hart  Don Byron  Ed Simon  Don Byron  Ed Simon  Kenny Davis photos by Albert Brooks click here for more |
DON BYRON QUARTET University at Albany Performing Arts Center Albany, NY November 21, 2008 by J Hunter Okay, I’ll admit it – I’ve become a “typical alum” of the University at Albany: I live and die with the Danes in basketball and football, and rant loud and long when budgets are cut and tuitions are raised. But only the b-ball team’s first America East title made me prouder than when I heard Don Byron had become an adjunct professor at my alma mater. The renowned reedman is now a member of the faculty, and his show last Friday night at UAlbany’s Performing Arts Center was definitely an education. Byron turned 50 on November 8th, and he’d celebrated with a multi-night, multi-band stand at the Jazz Standard, reviewing various creative stages in his career. The most well-known phase is Byron’s tribute to Lester Young’s bass-less masterpiece Ivey-Divey; still Byron’s also done everything from working with lights like the Duke Ellington Orchestra and Allen Toussaint, to fronting his own klezmer ensemble. Although the PAC program was billed as music inspired by Young and Eddie Harris (another artist Byron has previously examined), Byron told the mostly-student crowd that this group was “my forward thing.” Things got started almost a half-hour late, with Byron leading his quartet onstage about 8:30; I was told by a PAC staffer that a band member had flown in from Portugal that same day, so jet lag was probably a factor. Byron rewarded the crowd’s patience by assaulting their brainpans with a quicksilver take on Ornette Coleman’s “WORU.” If any of Byron’s compatriots was running on empty, it sure didn’t show as they blasted through thick-and-fast changes while Byron flew his clarinet into the higher register – a place he repeatedly visited when he wasn’t discussing Li’l Abner, the Marx Brothers, or the fact that Dick Fosberry revolutionized the High Jump but never gets any credit for it. (“The man was dissed,” Byron emphatically declared.) Byron’s clarinet brings such a different character to tunes where the soprano sax would be just as appropriate; the range is approximately the same, but the clarinet’s sound has a shape and a tone that’s fuller and more distinctive, whether Byron is howling on Monk’s “Evidence” or waxing wistful on the standard “I Can’t Get Started.” Sadly, Byron didn’t bring his legendary bass clarinet along, choosing the more traditional tenor sax as his secondary instrument, but he played that tenor to distraction on the Chamber Music America-commissioned “Joe Btfsplk” and on a group of etudes based on Bartok’s “The Micro Cosmos.” On the latter tune, Byron commanded the audience to “Gimme that soul clap!” And they did, for almost all 15 minutes of a piece that seemed less about Bélá Bartok and more about Ramsey Lewis. Drummer Billy Hart is a fighter – not a boxer, but a fighter. He goes inside like George Foreman, working his kit the way Foreman worked the heavy bag, until you expect the drums to implode from the stress. Hart’s not bombastic like Jack DeJohnette (who Hart replaced in Byron’s Ivey-Divey Trio), but Hart was up in the music’s grill all night long. Horizon keyboardist Edward Simon was Byron’s primary tether to this planet: Although Simon certainly got freaky on “WORU” and “Evidence”, his solos and fills had more of a traditional base, particularly on the Byron compositions “Fosberry Flop” and “Basquiat.” Kenny (“the Penguin”) Davis kept it simple on bass (Simply phat), though he did get to funk it up during his solo on “Btfsplk”, much to Byron’s approval. The only thing that beats a great jazz concert is seeing anew generation of listeners watching a great jazz concert, and that’s what happened at Byron’s “forward thing.” I know RPI has a hiring freeze on right now, but when it thaws, I encourage them to follow the lead of UAlbany, Skidmore (Terence Blanchard), Williams (John Menegon) and CSR (Lee Shaw), and add a nationally-recognized jazz artist to their music program, even if it’s just on an adjunct basis. It’s not only as big a draw for musicians as a winning sports team is for athletes, but occasionally you get hot shows like this one! J HUNTER is a former announcer/producer for radio stations in the Capital Region and the Bay Area, including KSJS/San Jose (where he was Assistant Music Director/Jazz Programming) and Q104 WQBK/Albany. He is a frequent contributor to the web site All About Jazz and to the monthly music magazine State of Mind. He currently resides in Clifton Park. |