Is it good planning or merely coincidence that Don Byron's concert of early swing music fits nicely with this year's Winter Carnival theme harkening back to the "Roaring Twenties?" In either case it seems to make more sense than rain in January.
Don Byron is a virtuoso clarinetist and talented composer with open ears, an open mind and a unique conception of music. He has been active in New York music scenes for the past decade, organizing and playing in avant-garde jazz, klezmer, Afro-Cuban and now, early swing ensembles.
Byron has earned international recognition being named "Down Beat" magazine's Jazz Artist of the Year in 1990 and topping numerous critics' and readers' polls as the premier clarinetist in jazz.
Each of Byron's CD releases spotlights a different band in a different context, showing that he will not be limited to only one definition of jazz and proving he is equally adept in each situation. One begins to wonder how long he may go until he decides to repeat an idea or concept. Hopefully not for a long time.
Byron's performance tomorrow night in Spaulding Auditorium will highlight his Bug Music ensemble, a mid-size band ablaze with trumpets, saxophone, Byron's clarinet, piano, bass and drums.
They will be playing the music of Raymond Scott, John Kirby and Duke Ellington. While the third is a household name and rightly so, Scott and Kirby have received very little attention or critical acclaim. Byron certainly hopes to remedy this situation, bringing the wonderful compositions of these bandleaders to listeners everywhere.
Scott and Kirby led popular groups during their day, but faded the public eye quickly unlike the Duke. All three bandleaders sought to combine jazz and classical music. One of the best pieces on the "Bug Music" CD is an intricately swinging take on a Tchaikovsky "Nutcracker" classic: "Bounce of the Sugar Plum Fairies."
Unfortunately, this combination of styles led critics to dismiss Scott and Kirby, as their music was not quite classical, not quite jazz and not easily pigeon-holed, labelled or branded.
As for what the music is, Byron writes in the liner notes to "Bug Music," "The bandleaders whose work I present here are linked compositionally by what they share in common: their love of hemiola, unusual chord progressions, minutely detailed arrangements and their ability to fashion pieces that explore the talents of individual bandmembers."
Byron writes of his choice for the title of the CD, "This performance is named after my favorite episode of the Flintstones. 'Bug Music with them four insects' is the Flintstones' version of The Beatles. In this episode, adults talk about their hatred of the stuff."
Bug Music, of course, sweeps through Bedrock creating mayhem and upsetting the natural order of things.
Byron continues, "The Beatles' music, now thought of as mainstream and accessible, was portrayed (in the guise of Bug Music) as horrible...Bug Music has lived on for me as a fable of the public's subjectivity."
Like Kirby and Scott, Byron has also fallen prey to attacks from critics for his eclectic approach to music, though most critics earnestly support his endeavors.
As in all his projects, Byron researches the material extensively in order to give an accurate performance and the CD sounds as though it could have been recorded in the 1920s with a couple of nice exceptions.
The group swings tightly with a reverence for the tone and style popular during the era, and is sure to get anyone moving.
It may be the end of the 1990s. Alcohol may be legal, and Spaulding may not have the feel of a smoky speakeasy in Harlem, but Bug Music promises to provide a musical window to an exciting time in American music.
