Don Byron, You Are #6

Blue Note Records

Chris Dahlen

Jazz clarinetist Don Byron's recordings can be so refined that he's not normally tagged as an "outside" player. His discs eschew skronk and free improvisation, and his arrangements are carefully considered. He has gotten the most press working with other people's music, performing faithful renditions of less-known musicians (Mickey Katz, Raymond Scott, Mandrill), and innovative takes on famous material (Sondheim, Mancini, "Reach Out I'll Be There"). From the through-composed swing-era pieces on Bug Music to the gorgeous piano-and-clarinet duets interspersed throughout his albums, Byron's arrangements are sharp, beautiful and well-organized.

Then he throws in the curveballs. How "inside" and conservative can he be after Nu Blaxploitation, which combines spoken word, rap, funk, and long tapes of people shooting the shit and playing dominos? (I consider it his best album.) Or how about the calypso on Leonard Bernstein's "Glitter and Be Gay," heard on A Fine Line? These surprises, when they work and when they don't, set Byron in a whole different category.

Byron's latest release, You Are #6, is the second recording of one of his regular working bands, the Music for Six Musicians project. Vaguely categorizable as Latin jazz, Byron first recorded the project for Nonesuch in 1995 and has frequently toured with the band since. Unlike some of his stricter, album-specific ensembles, Music for Six Musicians is a good context for his small combo writing—it's one of the only bands where he concentrates on his own writing—and the high musicianship and looser compositions let Byron and the other soloists stretch out.

You Are #6 was recorded for Blue Note, and it again features Byron's writing and a Latin-leaning ensemble. The two key sidemen are still in the band—Edsel Gomez on piano, and Milton Cardona on percussion—and on top of the sextet, Byron adds guests on almost every track. He expands the group to as many as thirteen people on the calypso "Shake 'Em Up," including a special appearance by Don Byron, Sr. on bass.

The new album is tighter and more consistent than its predecessor. The rhythm section is front and center and the arrangements are full. There is no dead space. On the other hand, the meandering made the band more entertaining. The tunes on the first album often ran to ten minutes, and in concert they could last up to half an hour. Gomez's over-the-top piano solos melted the ladies in the audience—my date to their '95 Chicago show claims she almost had an "inappropriate reaction" in the middle of "Rodney King." The trumpet solos (now from James Zollar) compliment the assertive tone of the music, and as for Byron—if it's possible for him to solo for too long, we haven't found out, and we've definitely been tested. In contrast, You Are #6 is short on solos: the front line doesn't step forward until the fifth track, "A Whisper in My Ear," and they don't blow the roof off until the short "You Are #6.5."

Byron is treating his own writing with the care he's shown to others, on albums such as Bug Music. There is strong material here: "Belmondo's Lip" is one of his catchiest pieces, with Byron tooting the mellifluous theme on bass clarinet. Some of the pieces feel confining, and it's rarely as compelling as the high points of the first Six Musicians record. But it also points the way to some great large ensemble work: there's some serious party music here. Maybe that would be a better direction for this project than the long-ass soloing of before. Maybe.

Related resources

The Don Byron page on the Blue Note Records site includes biographical information and sound clips from this album.

Here's an interesting 1999 interview with Byron from AllAboutJazz.com.

Don Byron's official site is coming soon.