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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZBYARD, Jaki(b John A. Byard Jr, 15 June 1922, Worcester MA; d of a gunshot 11 February 1999) Pianist, composer. He played in local bands in the late '40s, a mainstay post-war in the Boston area, worked periods with Earl Bostic '49-50 and Herb Pomeroy (b 15 April 1930, Gloucester MA, d 11 August 2007; trumpeter and bandleader Pomeroy taught at Berklee for over 40 years, also at the Lenox School of Music, and probably touched the lives of more musicians than almost anybody else in the business). Byard played with Maynard Ferguson '59-62, then Charles Mingus '63-70. Many LPs with Mingus included studio sets on Impulse, concert recordings from Town Hall NYC, Monterey, Paris, other European sets issued since Mingus's death. Has also taught at Berklee and other places. He said that Mingus hired him for the Town Hall Concert because he needed somebody who could play 'old fashioned': he played the blues from the inside to a degree unusual in an East Coast musician, and played first-class stride, but also 'modern' as anybody; he communicated with technique, swing and wit. 'Byard's fabled eclecticism ... has long since yielded an indigenous, insoluble style in which stride and bop and clusters are less bemused affectations than tools to make improvisations engaging and lucid' (Gary Giddins). His first own LP was a solo set Blues For Smoke '60 on CBS/Sony as a bonus disc in Japan. LPs on Prestige from '61 included trio sets Here's Jaki, Hi-Fly, Out Front, Freedom Together, The Sunshine Of My Soul and six other small-group sets with sidemen such as Ron Carter, Roland Kirk, Ray Nance, Paul Chambers, Billy Higgins, Elvin Jones, many others; Jaki Byard With Strings! included string players Ray Nance, George Benson, bassists Ron Carter and Richard Davis. His last Prestige outing was Solo '69; also on Prestige LPs by Eric Kloss (Grits And Gravy, Sky Shadows, In The Land Of The Giants), Eric Dolphy; some of Byard's sessions were reissued under Roland Kirk's name. On other labels, solo sets included Parisian Solos '71, The Entertainer and There'll Be Some Changes Made '72 on Muse; Flight Of The Fly '76 and To Them--To Us '81 on Soul Note; there are other albums on Muse, etc. He played solos 'Amarcord' and 'La Strada' on collection Amarcord Nino Rota '81; Duet c'72 with Earl Hines, duets with Ran Blake on Improvisations '82. He also led 20-piece band the Apollo Stompers; the album Phantasies '85 on Soul Note seemed to fall among several stools, without Byard's usual incisive vision. He made a further solo album, Vol. 17 in Concord's Maybeck Recital Hall series. This Happening '96 on Justin Time was a duo with Michael Marcus on reeds, hailed as a 'beautiful recording of stunning depth and feeling' by David Prince in Cadence. |