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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 ZBYAS, Don(b Carlos Wesley Byas, 21 Oct. '13, Muskogee OK; d 24 Aug. '72, Amsterdam) Tenor sax. Led his own band at college '30; played with Don Redman, Lucky Millinder, Andy Kirk, others; well-known with Count Basie '41 (recorded with small group 'Count Basie and his All-American Rhythm Section' Hollywood '42), Dizzy Gillespie '44. To Europe with Redman '46; lived in France, settled '50s in Holland. Visited UK '65, Newport Jazz Festival '70, Japan with Art Blakey '71. Of the Coleman Hawkins school, but a more modern-sounding stylist, he could be described as a link between Swing Era and bop, but he was too good a musician for a label. Underrated in the USA but not in Europe. LPs included Midnight At Minton's '41 with Thelonious Monk on Onyx; two-disc Savoy Jam Party '44-6 (22 tracks by five different small groups; sidemen including Slam Stewart, Charlie Shavers, Milt Hinton, Max Roach, etc; also 17 of the tracks as Living My Life); Don Byas Meets The Girls on Vogue ('53-5 session with piano trios); Danish Brew '59 on Swedish Jazz Mark label; A Tribute To Cannonball '61 on Columbia, with Idrees Dawud Sulieman (b 27 Aug. '23, St Petersburg FL) on trumpet, Bud Powell, bassist Pierre Michelot, Kenny Clarke; an album made in Paris '62 with Jacques Denjean Orchestra on Polydor; Anthropology and Walkin' '63 made in Copenhagen, on Black Lion and other labels; Ben Webster Meets Don Byas '68 on MPS with Al Heath, drums; Peter Trunk, bass; Tete Montoliu, piano. An album with strings '71 was issued on Japanese Polydor; Original 1945 Recordings '97 on Tax compiled seven sessions; Autumn Leaves on Ronnie Scott's Jazz House label '98 caught him live at the club with a trio led by Stan Tracey. |