Chris Byars: News

It looks like one of the songs available here for free download, "Riddle of the Sphinx," will be featured in a new movie. Starring Heather Graham and Elizabeth Peña, it's called "Adrift in Manhattan." When it comes out, I'll have to pull "Sphinx" from the site, but I'll replace it with something else for sure. So download away, while you still can.

Hi everybody! After two months of catching up State-side, which included a very successful educational program on Gigi Gryce...Ari Roland and I were summoned back to Turkmenistan by the U.S. State Department. We performed at the Ambassador's compound on July 4th (I sang the Star-Spangled Banner...at the sound check) and then embarked on a tour of four Turkmen cities (Ashgabat, Mary, Turkmenabat and Balkanabat). It was a diplomatic feat of cultural exchange - we combined with three Turkmen musicians to perform jazz AND ancient folkloric tunes. The audiences went nuts. I never thought I would perform in 11/8, fortunately my Turkmen colleaugues helped me find that downbeat. I hope to have pics up soon.

Please visit "Jazz on the Silk Road"!

I have set up a website dedicated to the Ari Roland Quartet tour of Russia and Central Asia to keep you all informed while I'm here. Please visit the site below for exciting details!

http://web.mac.com/chrisbyars/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html

Hi, I've got just a few more hours before special guest French Hornist John Clark joins the Chris Byars Octet to rehearse the material for Thursday night. I'm currently working on adding the horn part to Tadd Dameron's "On a Misty Night." Yesterday I copied out Mark Lopeman's transciptions of Horace Silver's "Speculation," and Gigi Gryce's "In a Meditating Mood," and wrote a brand new nonet arrangement of George Wallington's up-tempo "Baby Grand" . It's going to be great music at Smalls this week (see Calendar section). I hope you can make it!

Hide Watanabe, a producer for Japan's NHK TV is filming the Smalls shows this week - as well as the school concert Friday morning, and Joe's Pub. He's putting together a 20-minute segment on jazz, for a show called "New York Street" that will air in May or June 2007, for the Japanese Public Television Station. He's really cool and asks great questions. And if you know me, you know I love Japan!!

Well, that Daylight Savings Time change seemed to affect more than just 60 minutes last weekend; there are new, earlier (more accessible!) show times for Smalls - see Calendar section - and the Gigi Gryce kickoff concert is going to be by-invitation-only, sorry...I will provide photos of the event. The John Pizzarelli arranging project is almost done! Next hurdle - The Jimmy Cleveland Tribute.

One down-side to the earlier show times at Smalls - my Dad and his colleague Randy Wolfgang will NOT be joining us on Oboe/English Horn. But we did manage to book the veteran French Horn player John Clark for the 22nd, to play the Julius Watkins parts. Here's a weird fact - guess who played in a woodwind quintet with Julius Watkins in the late 1960s? My Dad. Small world!

Thanks again for checking in! I hope you're having as much fun as I am.

I just had a great time being interviewed by Greg Bryant of WFSK 81.1 FM in Nashville. His show, Premium Jazz, is every Monday from 7 to 9 pm; they're not streaming online yet, but it's on the horizon and I'll let you know when it happens. Greg's got a really astute grasp of the jazz scene and what makes the music special. He was adept at asking the right questions, and slick at the transitions - a real radio pro. We can all look forward to seeing and hearing more of him in the years to come, he's headed for great things.

Tomorrow's the CD release date...everybody run out and buy a copy, and reserve tickets for Joe's Pub!!!!

Thanks for your interest!

The John Pizzarelli Swing Seven arranging job is halfway done...finished Witchcraft, How About You, You Make Me Feel So Young, and I've Got You Under My Skin; currently working on In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning.

Today I'm meeting with the Principal of the Gigi Gryce/Basheer Qusim Elementary School to schedule residency dates for Across 7 Street. Then, for fun, I'm playing an Easter Seals Benefit with Neal Miner's Manhattan Jazz Events, after seeing some Canadian cousins who are in town.

Cool day! I hope you are enjoying yours.

Today I recorded a 30-minute phone interview with Matt LaVoie, host of Voice of America Radio. It's going out to (no kidding) MILLIONS of listeners world-wide. I don't know the air-date but I'll post it when I find out. Matt asked very good questions for relating to a wider audience.

Hi Everybody - it's the second day of the month I've most looked forward to in my jazz career! And it continues to yield exciting developments. During a meeting with the faculty at The Bronx Charter School for the Arts (Erik Plaks and Ann Ledo), they asked me if Across 7 Street could play a free concert for their students on March 23rd. If you look at the calendar section of this site, you'll see that makes for a pretty event-filled week. This is so much fun, I won't have any problem finding the time and energy to do it! I told them they could count on us.

In other news...a new podcast-type interview just went up on the Joe's Pub website - see the "LINKS" page on this site. I talk for about 12 minutes with John Seroff of Joe's Pub, who asks just the right questions to get me going...the musical family, how I met the band, how is it to be a multi-instrumentalist, the Gigi Gryce Project...I could've gone on and on for hours. We didn't even get to the State Dept. Tour, or the original repertoire...hmmm...I've got to figure out a way to say all this stuff more concisely. Still, there's something nice about an off-the-cuff interview. Trust me, with two small children, I've got no time to plan what I'm saying...to anybody!!

Just a note on the interview: occasionally there's a little volume surge when I'm speaking; get ready to ride the volume slider up and down on your QuickTime Player. If you do that it sounds fine.

So that's the latest today - a new gig for the Bronx Arts kids (I'll find out if it's open to the public - it's in Hunts Point) and a new interview on the web (see LINKS page). Stay in touch!! There's much more to come!!

Currently, I'm writing 9 arrangements for John Pizzarelli's Swing Seven concert in Sarasota, Florida on March 18th. I'm adapting the tunes from the Dear Mr. Sinatra CD for his 4-horn band, so he can promote the release with his mid-size format. I'm throwing in a fair amount of my own stuff too, it's not a cut-and-paste job.

A much bigger task is to prepare for the upcoming March (check out the calendar). The Jimmy Cleveland Tribute is shaping up beatifully; we'll have John Mosca featured alongside the Chris Byars Octet, Shawn Clark and a french horn player to be named sooner. Mark Lopeman is a tremendous help sharing the weight of the arranging/transcribing duties.

Throw into the mix the fact that my Dad and his fellow oboe-playing section-mate Randy Wolfgang recently expressed their wish to be included in the Octet. What will result, I believe, is that on March 23rd and 24th we'll have about 5 new tunes that feature oboe and english horn. Probably will sound like Gil Evans, but I want to go on record here, I've never really checked out Gil Evans.

Not to mention the CD release party at Joe's Pub, and the huge international tour that's coming up, and planning for the Gigi Gryce Educational program, which deserves a site of its own...wow, I'll never forget Spring 2007. Please check in often, I'll keep an updated diary of anecdotes for all to peruse.

Thanks for stopping by. Don't forget to try the free MP3 downloads, check out the newest photos and sign the guestbook!

Hi there! It's day 1 of the new site. I'm going to do my best to show you the more interesting details of an active musical life. I hope you enjoy what you see and hear. Feedback is welcome.