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Don Byas

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Biography

Born of musician parents, Don Byas began by learning the violin, clarinet and alto saxophone. At the end of the '20s, he began playing saxophone in small bands, before setting up his own group. When he moved to California in the early '30s, he finally opted for the tenor saxophone. He was initially hired by Lionel Hampton and Buck Clayton. Don Byas then left for New York with the orchestra accompanying singer Ethel Waters. He played with a number of the leading bands of the great swing period, before succeeding Lester Young in Count Basie's orchestra for three years from 1941. In the early days of bebop, Don Byas shared the stage with other young rebels such as Max Roach, Dizzy Gillespie and Oscar Pettiford. When Coleman Hawkins and Dizzy Gillespie conducted the first recorded sessions of this new music, he was invited to take part. From the second half of the '40s onwards, he recorded extensively for various record companies. He left for Europe in 1946 with Don Redman's orchestra, which organized one of the first tours for jazz on the Old Continent - apart from the previous American army orchestras. Europe became his new home, and he performed for a time in Paris, before settling permanently in the Netherlands. This did not prevent him from being called back to the United States on several occasions by American leaders such as Duke Ellington, Quincy Jones and Art Blakey.

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