1. Donald Byron was born on November 8,1958 and is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist.
11 Facts About Don Byron
1. 2.
Don Byron primarily plays clarinet but has played bass clarinet and saxophone in a variety of genres that includes free jazz and klezmer.
3.
Don Byron's father worked as a mailman and played bass in calypso bands.
4.
Don Byron grew up in the South Bronx among many Jewish neighbors who sparked an interest in klezmer.
5.
Don Byron has recorded with Bill Frisell, Joe Henry, Marc Ribot, Vernon Reid, and Allen Toussaint.
6.
Don Byron has worked as a professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver, The University at Albany, and MIT, teaching composition, improvisation, music history, clarinet, and saxophone.
7.
Don Byron is a practicing jazz historian, and some of his albums have been recreations of forgotten moments in the history of popular music.
8.
Don Byron won the Rome Prize Fellowship awarded by the American Academy in Rome in 2009.
9.
Don Byron was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo in 2005 for his bass clarinet solo on "I Want to Be Happy" from Ivey-Divey.
10.
Don Byron was a judge for the 2nd annual Independent Music Awards.
11.
Don Byron was named a 2007 USA Prudential Fellow and awarded a grant by United States Artists, a public charity that supports and promotes the work of American artists.