Don Byron plays Junior Walker + Kurt Rosenwinkel Group @ Vancouver Intl. Jazz Festival June 28, 2007

Don Byron

“Calling Don Byron a jazz musician is like calling the Pacific wet—it just doesn’t begin to describe it…Byron has carpentered an extraordinary career precisely by obliterating the very idea of category.”
—Time magazine

Bronx-born Don Byron is a singular voice in a dizzying array of musical contexts, exploring widely divergent traditions while continually pursuing what he calls “a sound above genre.” As a clarinetist and saxophonist, composer, and arranger he redefines every style of music he plays, be it classical, salsa, hip hop, funk, klezmer, or any jazz style from swing and bop to cutting-edge improvisation.

Byron’s latest project/recording is dedicated to the music of soul legend Junior Walker. “Junior Walker was an important part of ‘soul music’ as a movement,” Byron says. “Along with guys like King Curtis and Eddie Harris, he was successful at creating an instrumental improvisational style out of the gospel/blues techniques that were transforming popular singing. I managed to see him play once at a bar in Boston and thought I had never heard a better sound on an instrument.”

Byron has reveled in interpreting the music of a diverse range of artists including Duke Ellington, Igor Stravinsky, Mickey Katz, Sly Stone, and Herb Alpert. Adding Junior Walker to his repertoire underscores his position as one of the most open-minded and adventurous musicians today. With Dean Bowman vocals, David Gilmore guitar, George Colligan Hammond B-3, Brad Jones bass, Rodney Holmes drums.

Kurt Rosenwinkel Group

“Rosenwinkel combined the speed and insistence of a bop-based guitarist with the more biting, fog-cutting sound of someone equally attuned to rock.”
—Boston Globe

Kurt Rosenwinkel is a dazzling player whom guitar master John Scofield calls “one of the finest and most creative jazz guitarists playing today.” Since landing in New York in the early ’90s, Kurt has toured with luminaries like Joe Henderson, Paul Motian, and Joe Lovano. He’s also released four acclaimed recordings on the Verve label including the highly lyrical Deep Song.

A strikingly original voice on guitar, Kurt strives for a legato connectivity to the notes in the left hand while retaining a sense of rhythmic syncopation in the right hand. He told Jazziz: “Basically, I want a cross between Alan Holdsworth and Grant Green…but I also want the chordal approach of Keith Jarrett…The integration of chords and melody is something that I really hear in my head now…I’m trying to combine aspects of Holdsworth, Green, Jarrett, Bud Powell and Elmo Hope on the guitar.” With Mark Turner sax, Aaron Parks piano, Joe Martin bass, TBA drums. A double bill with Don Byron.

Official Website: http://www.coastaljazz.ca/index.cfm?page_id=97&view=DETAILS&event_id=803