The Don Byron Quartet
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The DON BYRON QUARTET has been a mainstay of the many ensembles Byron has led since his debut album Tuskegee Experiments on Nonesuch in 1991. Its repertoire has been distinguished by Byron's own compositional work, in contrast to the eclectic repertory character of other projects such as his Mickey Katz klezmer tribute, his exploration of the swing era music of Duke Ellington, Raymond Scott and John Kirby (Bug Music), and his large Adventurers Orchestra which performed his arrangements of music ranging from Stravinsky to Earth, Wind and Fire. In 2004, Byron formed the Lester Young-influenced Ivey-Divey Trio, which, after recording an album immediately recognized as a masterwork, gradually evolved into the current quartet. Featuring three of his longest-standing and favorite collaborators, the ensemble continues to showcase Byron's prowess as an original composer of memorable tunes of great depth while mining the work of such Byron idols as Young, John Coltrane, and Eddie Harris for inspiration.
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New York-born Don Byron is a singular voice in an astounding range of musical contexts, exploring widely divergent traditions while continually striving for what he calls "a sound above genre." As clarinetist, saxophonist, composer, arranger, and social critic, he redefines every genre of music he plays, be it classical, salsa, hip-hop, funk, klezmer, rhythm & blues, gospel, or any jazz style from swing and bop to cutting-edge downtown improvisation.
Since the early 1990s, Byron has been consistently voted best clarinetist by leading international music magazines. Acclaimed as much for his restless creativity as for his unsurpassed virtuosity as a player, he has presented a multitude of projects at major music festivals around the world. Among the numerous bands he has fronted are Bug Music, Music for Six Musicians, a klezmer ensemble, and his Ivey-Divey Trio. His countless collaborations with other artists range from the Duke Ellington Orchestra to Daniel Barenboim and from Salif Keita to Allen Toussaint.
He has composed and arranged music for chamber ensembles, dance, and film, including soundtracks for the documentaries “Strange Fruit” and “Red-Tailed Angels,” and he has acted in films directed by Robert Altman and Paul Auster. As artistic director and artist-in-residence, Byron has produced distinguished concert series for the Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and at New York’s Symphony Space. Also a gifted teacher, he has led residencies at many universities, including Harvard and Columbia. He was a visiting Professor at MIT in 2007/08 and at SUNY Albany from 2005-09, teaching theory, saxophone, improvisation, and composition.
Don Byron’s discography comprises a dozen albums for mostly Blue Note and Nonesuch Records. Ivey-Divey, his 2004 tribute album to Lester Young, was voted Record of the Year by Jazz Times Magazine and nominated for a Grammy Award.
In 2007, Byron was awarded with both a Guggenheim and a USA Prudential Fellowship. In 2009, he was awarded the Samuel Barber Rome Prize for Composition and his "7 Etudes for Piano" were a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Music. He is currently artist-in-residence at the American Academy in Rome, Italy, where he is working on his first opera.
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“Calling Don Byron a jazz musician is like calling the Pacific wet – it just doesn’t begin to describe it... Byron has carpentered an extraordinary career precisely by obliterating the very idea of category.” – TIME Magazine
“...showing us new ways of thinking and feeling about familiar experiences is one of the tasks of the true artist and is something Byron revels in.” – The Times, London
“Mr. Byron has not only almost single-handedly revived an instrument that was pronounced moribund with the end of the swing era, he has also taken a scholarly approach to jazz without a hint of academic stuffiness. Every time Mr. Byron revisits the music of a neglected jazz figure, he's not only charting new musical territory but he's actually an undercover critic trying to re-write the music's history.”
– The New York Times
“Byron’s clarinet is at once ancient and modern... His circuitous, unexpectedly jumping lines are stamped with his harmonic knowledge and melodic invention, informed by Bach and Schoenberg, Armstrong and Coltrane. And his rhythmic sense is sharp: He can make any two notes dance... As a composer, Byron is eclectic, thoughtful and provocative, usually with a political or social agenda.” –The Nation
“Clarinetist and composer Byron has a knack for addressing varied genres in both celebratory and extended ways. Whether dealing with klezmer, cartoon music, arias, or percussion-fortified Latin music, he is full of brainy delights. – Entertainment Weekly
Artist Website
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New York-born Don Byron is a singular voice in an astounding range of musical contexts, exploring widely divergent traditions while continually striving for what he calls "a sound above genre." As clarinetist, saxophonist, composer, arranger, and social critic, he redefines every genre of music he plays, be it classical, salsa, hip-hop, funk, klezmer, rhythm & blues, gospel, or any jazz style from swing and bop to cutting-edge downtown improvisation.
Since the early 1990s, Byron has been consistently voted best clarinetist by leading international music magazines. Acclaimed as much for his restless creativity as for his unsurpassed virtuosity as a player, he has presented a multitude of projects at major music festivals around the world. Among the numerous bands he has fronted are Bug Music, Music for Six Musicians, a klezmer ensemble, and his Ivey-Divey Trio. His countless collaborations with other artists range from the Duke Ellington Orchestra to Daniel Barenboim and from Salif Keita to Allen Toussaint.
He has composed and arranged music for chamber ensembles, dance, and film, including soundtracks for the documentaries “Strange Fruit” and “Red-Tailed Angels,” and he has acted in films directed by Robert Altman and Paul Auster. As artistic director and artist-in-residence, Byron has produced distinguished concert series for the Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and at New York’s Symphony Space. Also a gifted teacher, he has led residencies at many universities, including Harvard and Columbia. He was a visiting Professor at MIT in 2007/08 and at SUNY Albany from 2005-09, teaching theory, saxophone, improvisation, and composition.
Don Byron’s discography comprises a dozen albums for mostly Blue Note and Nonesuch Records. Ivey-Divey, his 2004 tribute album to Lester Young, was voted Record of the Year by Jazz Times Magazine and nominated for a Grammy Award.
In 2007, Byron was awarded with both a Guggenheim and a USA Prudential Fellowship. In 2009, he was awarded the Samuel Barber Rome Prize for Composition and his "7 Etudes for Piano" were a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Music. He is currently artist-in-residence at the American Academy in Rome, Italy, where he is working on his first opera.
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“Calling Don Byron a jazz musician is like calling the Pacific wet – it just doesn’t begin to describe it... Byron has carpentered an extraordinary career precisely by obliterating the very idea of category.” – TIME Magazine
“...showing us new ways of thinking and feeling about familiar experiences is one of the tasks of the true artist and is something Byron revels in.” – The Times, London
“Mr. Byron has not only almost single-handedly revived an instrument that was pronounced moribund with the end of the swing era, he has also taken a scholarly approach to jazz without a hint of academic stuffiness. Every time Mr. Byron revisits the music of a neglected jazz figure, he's not only charting new musical territory but he's actually an undercover critic trying to re-write the music's history.”
– The New York Times
“Byron’s clarinet is at once ancient and modern... His circuitous, unexpectedly jumping lines are stamped with his harmonic knowledge and melodic invention, informed by Bach and Schoenberg, Armstrong and Coltrane. And his rhythmic sense is sharp: He can make any two notes dance... As a composer, Byron is eclectic, thoughtful and provocative, usually with a political or social agenda.” –The Nation
“Clarinetist and composer Byron has a knack for addressing varied genres in both celebratory and extended ways. Whether dealing with klezmer, cartoon music, arias, or percussion-fortified Latin music, he is full of brainy delights. – Entertainment Weekly