Search - Artist/Band: Don Byas

• Name: Don Byas
• Birthday: 10/21/1912
• Birth Place: Muskogee, OK
• Died: 08/24/1972
• Decades Active: 1940,1950,1960
• Genre: Jazz
• Styles: Bop, Swing, Jazz Instrument, Saxophone Jazz
• Moods: Earnest, Passionate, Sophisticated, Amiable/Good-Natured, Energetic, Freewheeling, Reverent, Exuberant, Intimate

Title	Release
Don Byas [B.D. Jazz]	11/11/2008
The Best of Byas 1938-1949	09/29/2008
Stardust	06/13/2006
1952-1953 WA	03/21/2006
Moon Nocturne	02/28/2005
Plays Ballads	12/06/2004
1952	11/16/2004
Those Barcelona Days 1947-1948	11/16/2004
Jazz Ballads, Vol. 5	10/11/2004
1951-1952	10/21/2003
Riffin and Jivin	11/27/2002
Complete 1946-51 European Small Group Master Takes	11/26/2002
Don Byas: 1947-1951	09/25/2002
Bebop WA	07/16/2002
En Ce Temps-La	07/16/2002
Americans Swinging in Paris	2002
Don Byas [Vogue]	11/06/2001
Jazz in Paris: Laura	06/05/2001
Complete American Small Group Recordings WA	2001
1947 WA	11/09/1999
Melody in Swing, 1941-1945	06/01/1999
1946 WA	11/03/1998
Three Tenors	09/15/1998
1945, Vol. 2 WA	11/18/1997
His Best Recordings 1938-1946	08/19/1997
1945 WA	03/25/1997
Original 1945 Recordings	11/26/1996
1944-1945 WA	11/19/1996
All the Things You Are	10/01/1996
Jazz Hour with Don Byas: All the Things You Are	10/01/1996
Tenor Giant	03/19/1996
Savoy Jam Party: The Savoy Sessions	08/22/1995
With Cannonball Adderley	08/19/1994
Yesterdays: Don Byas Meets Dizzy Gillespie	1993
On Blue Star	10/25/1990
Anthropology	01/13/1963
A Tribute to Cannonball	12/17/1961
Living My Life	08/1946
Tenderly

One of the greatest of all tenor players, Don Byas' decision to move permanently to Europe in 1946 resulted in him being vastly underrated in jazz history books. His knowledge of chords rivalled Coleman Hawkins, and, due to their similarity in tones, Byas can be considered an extension of the elder tenor. He played with many top swing bands, including those of Lionel Hampton (1935), Buck Clayton (1936), Don Redman, Lucky Millinder, Andy Kirk (1939-1940), and most importantly Count Basie (1941-1943). An advanced swing stylist, Byas' playing looked toward bop. He jammed at Minton's Playhouse in the early '40s, appeared on 52nd Street with Dizzy Gillespie, and performed a pair of stunning duets with bassist Slam Stewart at a 1944 Town Hall concert. After recording extensively during 1945-1946 (often as a leader), Byas went to Europe with Don Redman's band, and (with the exception of a 1970 appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival) never came back to the U.S. He lived in France, the Netherlands, and Denmark; often appeared at festivals; and worked steadily. Whenever American players were touring, they would ask for Byas, who had opportunities to perform with Duke Ellington, Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke, Dizzy Gillespie, Jazz at the Philharmonic (including a recorded tenor battle with Hawkins and Stan Getz), Art Blakey, and (on a 1968 recording) Ben Webster. Byas also recorded often in the 1950s, but was largely forgotten in the U.S. by the time of his death. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide