In an over two decades long career, Don Byron finds his way exceptionally successful between different music contexts while researching different traditions and achieving what he calls “sound beyond genre”.
After he was declared musician of the year in 1992 by readers and critics of magazine DownBeat, this composer and multi-instrumentalist gained international popularity for his restless creative spirit and unsurpassed virtuosity.
The Don Byron New Gospel Quartet started in 2009, after a promotion held during four nights in a row at the club Jazz Standard and an European tour that followed, the ensemble has got great response from audience and critics. Two years later their first album Love, Peace, And Soul was released.
“In the past few years I have listened more intensively to black religious music than ever before. Examining the specific blues styles peculiar to country, R&B, and rock led me to Gospel. Today, I am combining my own compositions with traditional Gospel. This project coincides with a growth in my own faith and is for me a religious expression”, said Byron.
Watch a performance from this June of the New Gospel Quartet and Don Byron, an artist who will perform at this year’s Jazz Fest as a special guest of Jack DeJohnette’s Group on 07 November at Bosanski kulturni centar.