CiTR

Pianist Jaki (John) Byard was a genius who played every instrument in the band more than well but we'll always remember him as a great piano player whose style covered the history of Jazz from stride and ragtime to the avant-guard and all the stops in between. Jaki was born in Worcester, MA on June 15,1922 and died in New York on February 11,1999. He was murdered and the case is still one of the NYPD's unsolved mysteries. Jaki recorded prolifically under his own name and as a sideman but he made some of his most significant statements as part of the volatile Charles Mingus Jazz Workshop. Byard composed and arranged as well and Mingus valued his association with Jaki. The Feature tonight was recorded about a year after a fabled tour of Europe with Mingus and he was about to return to the Workshop but he assembled this quartet for some engagements and they were recorded at a little club in West Peabody MA called "Lennie's on the Turnpike" The band was hot that night in April and with the great bassist George Tucker, drum master Alan Dawson and tenor and soprano saxophonist and flutist Joe Farrell, Jaki couldn't go wrong. Byard leads from the piano with cues and shouts to the guys and the music is loose, swinging and inspired and reaches some of the same creative intensity as a Mingus set. Jaki Byard "LIVE!" is an exciting experience....have a good time with this music.