Don Byron, Ivey-Divey - 1h 15m 1s

Tracks & Durations

1. I Want to Be Happy	8:47
2. Somebody Loves Me	7:15
3. I Cover the Waterfront	5:05
4. I've Found a New Baby	6:05
5. Himm (for Our Lord and Kirk Franklin)	5:29
6. The Goon Drag	3:18
7. Abie the Fishman	5:08
8. Lefty Teachers at Home	6:35
9. Leopold, Leopold...	4:02
10. Freddie Freeloader	7:09
11. In A Silent Way	9:29
12. Somebody Loves Me (alternate take)	6:31

Note: The information about this album is acquired from the publicly available resources and we are not responsible for their accuracy.

Review

Clarinetist Don Byron's albums frequently reflect an ongoing battle for control between two sides of his artistic identity: the virtuoso instrumentalist and shrewd conceptualist. Sometimes, in mounting his concepts, which have ranged from a tribute to klezmer king Mickey Katz to an album of tunes by offbeat '30s bandleaders John Kirby and Raymond Scott, he hasn't given his playing free enough rein. With Ivey-Divey, inspired in part by a great 1946 album teaming tenor legend Lester Young with pianist Nat King Cole and drummer Buddy Rich, Byron gives each side of his talent a fair shake. Honoring his source, he offers his own luminous take on tunes from it including "I Cover the Waterfront" and "I've Found a New Baby." While paying homage to Young, though, he cuts loose to deliver his freest and most dazzling performance on record. Emphatic where Young was famously laid back, soaring where Young floated, he joins forces with the brilliant, adaptable young pianist Jason Moran and fearsome drummer Jack DeJohnette (sounding great these days, having pared back his excesses) to create a classic of his own. No standard-issue tribute, Ivey-Divey includes intriguing reworkings of two Miles Davis classics, "Freddie Freeloader" (from Kind of Blue) and "In a Silent Way," and the gleeful original "'Leopold, Leopold ... ,'" a nod to Bugs Bunny's impersonation of conductor Leopold Stokowski. Then there's the boogie woogie classic "The Goon Drag," on which Byron gives a rare sampling of his sound on tenor, joined by trumpeter Ralph Alessi and bassist Lonnie Plaxico. Everything's ivey-divey, and hunky dory as well. --Lloyd SachsDon Byron digs into a Lester Young classic and much more on Ivey-Divey, the follow up to the critically acclaimed You Are #6. Centered around Byron's effervescent new trio with piano rising star Jason Moran and drumming paragon Jack DeJohnette, Ivey-Divey is a master class in jazz chemistry-a worthy successor in spirit to tenor sax legend Young's mid-'40s trio with Nat "King" Cole and Buddy Rich.

With musicians of this caliber, it's no surprise that Ivey-Divey sizzles with exuberance-the confidant sound of three musicians working at a profound level of empathy. While the spirit of the session may hark back to Lester Young, this is no mere swing down memory lane. Byron and Co. bring an up-to-the minute rhythmic and harmonic sensibility, not to mention improvisational fireworks to their four selections from the Prez repertoire: "I Want to Be Happy," "Somebody Loves Me" (in two equally dazzling, yet substantially different renditions), "I Cover the Waterfront," and "I've Found a New Baby."

In addition to the trio, Ralph Alessi (trumpet) and Lonnie Plaxico (bass) are added to round out the session. The quintet tackles classic Miles Davis repertoire including "In a Silent Way" and "Freddie Freeloader" as well as original Byron compositions.

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