1. Summertime
2. Night and Day
3. Easy to Love
4. Where or When
5. Flamingo
6. Stardust
7. Ol' Man River
8. The Man I Love
9. Georgia on My Mind
10. Over the Rainbow
11. Laura
12. Somebody Loves Me
13. Old Folks at Home
14. Riviera Blues (Blues à la Don)
15. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
16. I Cover the Waterfront
17. It's the Talk of the Town
18. A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody
Don Byas - Tenor sax
Art Simmons – Piano (tracks 1, 5-7, 11-16,
18)
Jean-Jacques Tilché - Guitar (tracks
1, 5-7, 18)
Roger Grasset – Bass (tracks 1, 5-7, 18)
Claude Marty – Drums (tracks 1, 5-7, 18)
Maurice Vander - Piano (tracks 2-4, 8-10)
Jean-Pierre Sasson - Guitar (tracks 2-4, 8-10)
Jacques "Popof" Medvedko - Bass (tracks 2-4,
8-10)
Benny Bennett - Drums (tracks 2-4, 8-10)
Joe
Benjamin - Bass (tracks 11-16)
Bill
Clark - Drums (tracks 11-16)
Don
Byas was one of those "almost" jazzmen who
never quite attained the fame of the best-known
saxophonists (such players as Coleman Hawkins
or Charlie Parker). This may be because he
was plainly influenced by Coleman Hawkins
or perhaps because he spent many years in
Paris - one of the many Americans who found
life more congenial there than in the USA.
By the time he settled in Paris in the late
1940s, he had already made his name playing
in the bands of such people as Lionel Hampton,
Lucky Millinder and Count Basie (taking Lester
Young's place with Basie in 1941).
This
CD of tracks from the early fifties, one of
the re-released "Jazz in Paris" series, displays
his marvellous tone - as warm and smooth as
velvet, and as furry as the fuzz on a peach.
The similarities with Coleman Hawkins are
evident, although Byas tends to be more harmonically
adventurous. Johnny Griffin called Byas "The
Tatum of the saxophone". In a programme consisting
mainly of slow numbers, he lays out his gorgeous
sound and his imaginative improvisations.
He often stays close to the melody: embroidering
the tunes rather than straying very far away
from them, but this makes these tracks accessible
to any listener with ears to hear. Yet he
tends to finish tunes with an intricate coda,
which the pianists do well to match in harmony.
The
other musicians on these three sessions mostly
stay in the background, although Art Simmons
gets half-a-chorus solo on Flamingo,
with a touch as delicate as Teddy Wilson.
Somebody Loves Me breaks the mould
by being a fairly up-tempo swinger, which
makes one wish there were more such numbers
on the CD. Don's solo shows that he can really
swing. Riviera Blues is another fast
tune - a blues on which Don lets his hair
down, even adopting a rougher tone for the
duration of the track.
But
most tracks stick to the ballad format, which
makes for a very laid-back album. Don Byas
was such a beautiful ballad player that one
can excuse the album for its general lack
of high-voltage excitement. Instead you get
55 minutes of lovely, considered playing from
a master of the tenor sax.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Universal
0602498420010
