Search - Don Byas :: 1952-1953

Byas-this-CD: It's a good one!

Bomojaz | South Central PA, USA | 11/15/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the ninth volume in the Chronological Classics series on the complete works of Don Byas; all the sides were originally recorded for the Vogue label in Paris in 1952 and 1953. Byas's meaty though melodic tenor sax is in the forefront on all the recordings. The least successful sides are the ones he made with the Tony Proteau Orchestra: the tunes, all with French titles, are all slow ballads and are indistinguishable enough to all sound the same after a while; also the musicianship of the orchestra members, even though they assume the meagerest of supporting roles, is fairly low. But the high quality of the remaining sessions makes up for these deficiencies.



On almost a dozen sides Byas plays in a quartet setting with the superb pianist Martial Solal; although most of the tunes they play are taken slowly, the playing is terrific. This kind of material was Byas's bread-and-butter, and he's in top form: BLUES FOR DON CARLOS (which is closely aligned to Byas's earlier hit HARVARD BLUES), TIME ON MY HANDS, and LOVER MAN are all excellent. The medium-tempo SWEET LORRAINE contains a very forward-looking piano solo by Solal. The music on this CD finds Byas near the tail end of his classic creative period, which began in the mid-40s, and finds him laying down music of great beauty and value. Definitely worth checking into.

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