Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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LYONS, Jimmy

(b 1 Dec. '32, Jersey City; d 19 May '86, NYC) Alto sax, flute. Close association with Cecil Taylor: record debut with him in Copenhagen '62; played on his great Blue Note LPs Unit Structures and Conquistador!; also on Taylor's three-disc One Too Many Salty Swift And Not Goodby '78 on hat Art, Winged Serpent '84 on Soul Note etc; also Into The Hot with Gil Evans on Impulse, etc own LPs: Other Afternoons '69 on Byg/Affinity with Lester Bowie, Andrew Cyrille, Alan Silva on bass; 'Push Pull' on Wildflowers 4 (see Jazz) with his wife Karen Borca on bassoon; Jump Up/What To Do About '80 on hat Hut with Sunny Murray Trio; three-disc set Push Pull '78, Riffs '80 on hat labels and Wee Sneezawee '83 on Black Saint, all with Borca; Give It Up '85 on Black Saint. Collaborated on projects with Cyrille, Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, David Murray, others. He was compared to Jackie McLean, Ornette Coleman in forging a breakthrough to a post-Charlie Parker style; in his final years he was close to pianist Joel Futterman (see that entry).