The University at
Albany Department of Music is pleased to present the Don Byron Quartet on Friday, November 21, 2008 at 8pm in
the Main Theatre of the Performing Arts Center on the uptown campus. The
celebrated clarinetist and UAlbany faculty member is jointed by a group of
elite jazz musicians – pianist Edward Simon, bassist Kenny Davis and drummer
Billy Hart – in a concert inspired by the music of Lester Young and Eddie
Harris.
This new quartet follows
in the tradition of several small ensembles Byron has led since his debut album
Tuskegee Experiments on Nonesuch in
1991. These bands have been vehicles for Byron's own compositions as distinct
from his repertory groups which explore and play the music of a particular
genre or composer (Don Byron Plays the Music of Mickey Katz, the Bug Music
Sextet, or his Adventurers Orchestra whose wide range reached from Stravinsky
to the Sugarhill Gang).
In 2004, Byron
formed and recorded the Ivey-Divey Trio, inspired by Lester Young's 1946 trio
with Nat King Cole and Buddy Rich. The original band featured Jason Moran
and Jack DeJohnette and has since evolved into the current quartet with Simon,
Davis and Hart. The Don Byron Quartet continues to mine the work of Lester
Young and also looks to Eddie Harris for inspiration. The band's repertoire
features Byron’s recent CMA commission, "A Suite for Lester Young,"
other new original works as well as covers of Young and Harris tunes.
Byron says, "I
love playing with groups of elite musicians, fashioning unusual collective
results. This band features three of my favorites -- they are great at both the
abstract and concrete aspects of jazz playing, and this has been the hallmark
of much of the music I have made.”
Tickets are $25 for the general public, $20 for seniors & UAlbany faculty/staff and $10 for students and may be purchased through the Performing Arts Center Box Office. For further information, contact the Box Office at (518) 442-3997 or visit the Performing Arts Center website at www.albany.edu/pac.
