A Ballad for Many

Don Byron (Composer), Bang On A Can (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 13, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Cantaloupe
• ASIN: B000FILUE2
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #374,776 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Don Byron and the Bang On A Can All-Stars occupy front-row positions in the interstices where jazz, world music, and avant garde art music meet. Put them together in this stimulating new album, A Ballad For Many, and you get a lively, genre-busting experience. All of the compositions are by Byron, including "Eugene," written as a live accompaniment to a silent episode of Ernie Kovacs' 1960s TV show. Its six sections feature tick-tock percussion, a Rachmaninoff-like cello solo, and a general "jazz-meets-cartoon music" feel. The other multi-section piece is Byron's music from The Red-Tailed Angels, a documentary film about World War II's famed Tuskegee fighter airmen. Its 9 evocative cues range from a brief cello solo to Ellingtonian tone painting to martial rhythms. The closing section features Byron soloing, a jazz clarinet flight in tribute to the brave fighter pilots who broke barriers in a Jim Crow society. Another highlight is Basquiat, a moving homage to the Haitian-American artist who won fame and died young. It has dazzling Byron solos that include piercing forays into the upper stratosphere where Basquiat dwelt--in Byron’s words, "a brother who knew high art things he wasn't supposed to know, and ended up in high places where he wasn't supposed to be." --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BoaC & Don= Pure Magic!, August 1, 2006

By 

Alessandro Mantega "Halowdance" (Quartu S.E., Cagliari Italy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Ballad for Many (Audio CD)

I wasn't very deep inside BoaC music. I bought this because of Don, and SURPRISE! Bang on a Can really swings hard.

I strongly recommend this album to all jazz & open minded music lovers.

Halowdance