VA - Membran Music's Jazz Ballads Series Vol. 1-5 (10 CD, 2004) [FLAC+320]

 A CD sets with the most beautiful ballads in the history of jazz.

Lyrical, imaginative, sensuous and melodic jewels from the art of music.

Precisely for those people who have maintained their taste for lasting musical values.

Jazz in its most gentle form.

Irrestible...

Jazz Ballads 1: Chet Baker & Gerry Mulligan
Jazz Ballads 2: Ben Webster
Jazz Ballads 3: Lester Young
Jazz Ballads 4: Clifford Brown & Sonny Rollins
Jazz Ballads 5: Don Byas

Don Byas - The Chronogical Classics 1944-1953 (6 CD/FLAC)

 

One of the greatest of all tenor players, Don Byas' decision to move permanently to Europe in 1946 resulted in him being vastly underrated in jazz history books. His knowledge of chords rivalled Coleman Hawkins, and, due to their similarity in tones, Byas can be considered an extension of the elder tenor. He played with many top swing bands, including those of Lionel Hampton (1935), Buck Clayton (1936), Don Redman, Lucky Millinder, Andy Kirk (1939-1940), and most importantly Count Basie (1941-1943). An advanced swing stylist, Byas' playing looked toward bop. He jammed at Minton's Playhouse in the early '40s, appeared on 52nd Street with Dizzy Gillespie, and performed a pair of stunning duets with bassist Slam Stewart at a 1944 Town Hall concert. 

After recording extensively during 1945-1946 (often as a leader), Byas went to Europe with Don Redman's band, and (with the exception of a 1970 appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival) never came back to the U.S. He lived in France, the Netherlands, and Denmark; often appeared at festivals; and worked steadily. Whenever American players were touring, they would ask for Byas, who had opportunities to perform with Duke Ellington, Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke, Dizzy Gillespie, Jazz at the Philharmonic (including a recorded tenor battle with Hawkins and Stan Getz), Art Blakey, and (on a 1968 recording) Ben Webster. Byas also recorded often in the 1950s, but was largely forgotten in the U.S. by the time of his death. 

Don Byas Quartet - The Complete 1946-1954 Paris Recordings (3 CD, 2011/FLAC)

 

This release contains all of the quartet recordings that Don Byas made for French labels between 1946 and 1954. Byas' accompaniment on these tracks consisted of renowned local musicians like Martial Solal and Pierre Michelot, as well as other illustrious American figures likes Mary Lou Williams and Beryl Booker. All of these quartets follow the traditional jazz formation of tenor sax backed by a rhythm section of piano, bass and drums. 

Don Byas - Complete American Small Group Recordings (4 CD, 2001/FLAC)

 Oklahoma born tenor saxophonist Don Byas moved easily between swing and bebop with an earthy, blues sound that brings to mind Coleman Hawkins but with a lightness of touch and rhythmic agility reminiscent of Lester Young. He successfully synthesized these two influences, in many ways updating them into the bebop era. Byas mastered the breathtaking tempos associated with Parker and Gillespie but avoided the angular, sharp phrasing- with the result that his up-tempo approach had a more rounded, swing solo sound. Byas reminds us that bebop arose out of the world of swing, and that many of the most significant jazz musicians of the forties were at home in both worlds.

Don Byas - Moon Nocturne [1945-1952] (4 CD, 2005/FLAC)

 Don Byas, byname of Carlos Wesley Byas, (born October 21, 1912, Muskogee, Oklahoma, U.S.—died August 24, 1972, Amsterdam, Netherlands), American jazz tenor saxophonist whose improvising was an important step in the transition from the late swing to the early bop eras.

During the late 1930s Byas played in several swing bands, including those of Don Redman and Andy Kirk, and in 1941 he became a tenor saxophone soloist with Count Basie on such songs as “Swinging the Blues,” “Royal Garden Blues,” and, most notably, “Harvard Blues.” He also became associated with bebop innovators such as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. In small groups (1943–46) led by himself and others, Byas experimented with the new concepts of bop harmony and rhythm. His 1945 duets with bassist Slam Stewart, “Indiana” and “I Got Rhythm,” show his fluent style with long lines founded in Coleman Hawkins’s rich tone and phrasing but including modern bop harmonic elements.

Don Byas - Complete 1946-1951 European Small Group Master Takes (3 CD, 2001/FLAC)

 The European recordings by a jazzmen who played a crucial role in the transition from Swing to Bop. Only master takes.

One of the greatest of all tenor players, Don Byas' decision to move permanently to Europe in 1946 resulted in him being vastly underrated in jazz history books. His knowledge of chords rivalled Coleman Hawkins, and, due to their similarity in tones, Byas can be considered an extension of the elder tenor. He played with many top swing bands, including those of Lionel Hampton (1935), Buck Clayton (1936), Don Redman, Lucky Millinder, Andy Kirk (1939-1940), and most importantly Count Basie (1941-1943).

An advanced swing stylist, Byas' playing looked toward bop. He jammed at Minton's Playhouse in the early '40s, appeared on 52nd Street with Dizzy Gillespie, and performed a pair of stunning duets with bassist Slam Stewart at a 1944 Town Hall concert. After recording extensively during 1945-1946 (often as a leader), Byas went to Europe with Don Redman's band, and (with the exception of a 1970 appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival) never came back to the U.S. He lived in France, the Netherlands, and Denmark; often appeared at festivals; and worked steadily. Whenever American players were touring, they would ask for Byas, who had opportunities to perform with Duke Ellington, Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke, Dizzy Gillespie, Jazz at the Philharmonic (including a recorded tenor battle with Hawkins and Stan Getz), Art Blakey, and (on a 1968 recording) Ben Webster. Byas also recorded often in the 1950s, but was largely forgotten in the U.S. by the time of his death.