Jazzman Testifies to Students

“Calling Don Byron a jazz musician is like calling the Pacific wet—it just doesn’t begin to describe it,” according to Time Magazine.

Don Byron may not be well-known among Harvard students, but he’s developed a reputation in the jazz world for ceaselessly shattering musical boundaries. This weekend, the Harvard Office For the Arts (OFA) and the Harvard Jazz Bands are bringing the 47-year-old clarinetist to campus as an Artist-in-Residence for the OFA’s ongoing “Learning with Performers” series.

Byron is a rare breed of jazzman. Few choose to specialize in the clarinet. Few modern jazz artists are unafraid to be explicitly political; Byron routinely gives his compositions titles like “(The press made) Rodney King (responsible for the LA riots).” Fewer still cite influences ranging from Duke Ellington and klezmer legend Mickey Katz to rap label Sugar Hill Records and the Afro-Cuban rhythmic tradition. “These are all types of music that I’ve always been interested in,” he says. “It’s great that I’ve been able to make something professional out of my inspirations.”

Byron rare talents have brought him to campus before. In April of 1990, he participated in a Learning with Performers event and spoke to the classes of his friend, Professor Ingrid Monson, the Quincy Jones Professor of African American Music and chair of the Music Department.

This visit, however, will center around two events unlike anything Byron has done at Harvard in the past. On Friday, Byron will participate in “Listening with Don Byron.” According to OFA Director Tom Lee, the program is inspired by the New York Times series, “Listening to CDs With,” a feature that interviews prominent jazz artists and asks them to comment on what they listen for in recordings of both new and old jazz.

For the Harvard “Listening” event, Byron says he will bring music he wrote for a documentary film about “Strange Fruit,” a song depicting the horrors of a lynching, made famous by Billie Holiday. He also plans to bring gospel music and an assortment of DVD’s. Lee says that the session will be a rare opportunity for Harvard students. “Learning how to listen is one of the most important skills for a musician,” Lee says, “and to be able to learn from an artist like Don, whose work is not easily pigeonholed, is extremely exciting.”

On Saturday, Byron will take the stage with members from both of the two Harvard Jazz Bands. They will play a Byron original that incorporates Afro-Cuban beats, as well as Duke Ellington’s “Such Sweet Thunder,” a rarely-performed early Ellington piece that includes narration from Shakespeare’s sonnets.

Byron recognizes that some students may find the decision to play such an early piece of Ellington’s a strange decision. “I know most of the Ellington that kids get to play and I’m interested in all of Ellington,” he says. “However, I feel like there’s this popular misconception of early jazz as primitive. The important thing is that people get to know his early stuff.”

Byron came to campus in early November to start practicing with the group. Director of Harvard Jazz Bands Tom Everett described the rehearsal process as one of constant discovery. “Watching Don work with the band was like watching a shattered window in reverse,” Everett says. “It took an hour for the kids to even realize it was an Afro-Cuban beat they were playing, but once they did, it was amazing.”

For the duration of his residency here, Byron will be staying in a room at Kirkland house, where he also lived during his November visit. Lee says that he hopes the living quarters will bring more interaction with students. When questioned, Byron takes a less high-concept approach to his habitat. ”It’s just a place to rest my head,” he says. “Maybe I will have a meal there at some point.”

Both Everett and Lee stress that, while they are excited for the opportunities Byron offers to students, the artist-in-residency program is also an honor given to the artist, himself—a way of acknowledging that the Harvard community respects and values his contribution. “The criterion for choosing the artist is that the artist must have their own voice; a way of incorporating the music of the past and something of their own,” Everett says. “With Don, his own music is one that has absorbed all of these influences but doesn’t sound like any of them. He has the listener looking back as well as looking forward.”

When asked what it was like to work with Byron, Everett quotes Buck Clayton, who was commenting on working with Billie Holiday when he said it was like “eating chocolate ice cream.” With Byron, perhaps not only is working with him a treat, but listening to him is as well. It’s like getting the 100 flavor box of Jelly Bellys—you never know what flavor you’ll get, but it’s always different.