 The Don Byron Quartet featuring Don Byron on clarinet, Ralph Alessi on
trumpet, Lonnie Plaxico on bass, and
Billy Hart on drums will perform on July 26th through July 30th at the
Jazz Standard in New York.
For over a decade, clarinetist and composer Don Byron has been
exploring widely divergent traditions while continually striving for
what he calls "a sound above genre." Down Beat's 1992 "Jazz Artist of
the Year" redefines every genre of music he plays, from funk and salsa
to classical and klezmer, and any jazz style from swing and bop to
cutting-edge improvisation. Time Magazine says: "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."
Born and raised in the Bronx, Byron was exposed to a wide variety of
music by his father, who played bass in calypso bands, and his mother,
a pianist. His taste was further refined by trips to the symphony and
ballet and by many hours spent listening to Dizzy Gillespie, Miles
Davis and Machito recordings. He formalized his music education by
studying classical clarinet with Joe Allard while playing and arranging
salsa numbers for high school bands on the side. He later studied with
George Russell in the Third Stream Department of the New England
Conservatory of Music and, while in Boston, also performed with Latin
and jazz ensembles.
An integral member of New York’s cultural community for over a decade,
Byron has taken part in an extraordinarily wide range of projects. For
four seasons, he served as artistic director of jazz at the Brooklyn
Academy of Music where he curated a concert series for the Next Wave
Festival and premiered his children's show, Bug Music for Juniors
(formerly Tunes and ’Toons). Other special projects include
arrangements of Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway musicals; There Goes the
Neighborhood, a piece commissioned and performed by the Kronos Quartet;
and original scores for the silent film Scar of Shame and a 1961
comedic television episode by Ernie Kovacs. He wrote and performed
music for the Bebe Miller Dance Company and was featured in Robert
Altman’s movie Kansas City and the Paul Auster film Lulu on the Bridge.
He also composed and recorded the score for Joel Katz’s film Strange
Fruit, a documentary about the 1930s protest song made famous by Billie
Holiday. Recent composing commissions include Spin, a piece for violin
and piano premiered at the Library of Congress; and Red, a big band
suite which was premiered at the Monterey Jazz Festival in September
2002. Click
here for Don Byron Video.
 Ralph Alessi Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Alessi was
always surrounded by a family of musicians including his father
Joseph Alessi with whom he began studying the trumpet at the
age of six (his mother is a former singer with the Metropolitan
Opera Company). From 1985-1990, he attended the California Institute
for the Arts,
where he studied with Charlie Haden and James Newton. In that time, he
received a
B.F.A. degree in jazz trumpet performance and a M.F.A. degree in jazz
bass
performance. During his residence in Los Angeles, he performed with
Bill Perkins, Frank
Strazeri and Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra to name a few.
Shortly after relocating to New York City, Alessi joined bands led
by saxophonist Steve
Coleman and Pianist Uri Caine (with whom he continues to play with) as
well as
performing and recording with Michael Cain, Curtis Fowlkes, Peter
Epstein, Mark
Helias, David Gilmore, Bobby Previte, Tim Berne, James Carney, Andy
Milne, Muhal
Richard Abrams and Lonnie Plaxico. These days as a sideman he is
performing and
recording with Don Byron, Tim Berne, Drew Gress, Kenny Werner, Fred
Hersch, Scott
Colley and The Extension Ensemble.
 Lonnie Plaxico
Plaxico moved to New York in 1980 and soon began to appear with such
artists as Chet Baker, Dexter Gordon, and Wynton Marsalis. His
first extended tenure was with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers: between
1983 and 1986. Lonnie performed on twelve of Blakey's albums,
including the Grammy Award-winning, New York Scene. In 1986 he joined
Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition, continuing with that group until
1993. Presently, Plaxico is the musical director and featured bassist
for singer, Cassandra Wilson. Their critically acclaimed and
award-winning collaboration has now spanned fifteen years.
Lonnie Plaxico's recording and performance catalog is equally
impressive for its caliber, depth and diversity. He has appeared with
such luminaries as Sonny Sitt, Junior Cook, David Murray, Alice
Coltrane, Stanley Turrentine, Joe Sample, Abbey Lincoln, and Dizzy
Gillespie. Just as noteworthy are his performances with younger artists
-- among them Steve Coleman, Rachelle Farrell, and Dianne Reeves.
Lonnie Plaxico has also recorded with Bill Cosby, Lonnie Liston Smith,
Ravi Coltrane, and Barbara Dennerlein, as well as his Grammy-winning
collaborations with Art Blakey and Cassandra Wilson. He has also
recorded five critically acclaimed albums as leader
 Billy Hart © Andrea Canter
Drummer Billy Hart is
Assistant Professor of Jazz Percussion at the Oberlin Converaory for
Music. Andrea Canter of Jazz Police calls him "One of the unsung stars
of modern jazz drumming" having appeared on over 600 jazz recordings.
He has performed and recorded with significant artists including
Shirley Horn, McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Jimmy Smith, Stan Getz,
Charlie Rouse, Cecil Taylor and Pharoah Sanders, Colloquim III(a
percussion ensemble He co-founded), Mingus Dynasty (charter
member). Hart's recordings as a leader inclue: Firebird, with the Western Jazz
Quartet and Oceans
of Time, Arabesque Recordings
The Don Byron Quartet featuring Don Byron on clarinet, Ralph Alessi on
trumpet, Lonnie Plaxico on bass, and
Billy Hart on drums will perform on July 26th through July 30th at the
Jazz Standard in New York. Open seven days a week, Jazz Standard has convenient set times, with an additional late show on the weekends. Set times are:
7:30pm - doors open at 6:30pm
9:30pm - doors open at 8:45pm
11:30pm on Fridays and Saturdays only - doors open at 10:45pm
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Saturday, 22 November 2008
