Down Beat (1/97, p.54) - 4 Stars - (out of 5) - "...On BUG MUSIC, he faithfully replicates the music of Duke Ellington, late-'30s combo leader John Kirby and loony tunesmith Raymond Scott....In Byron's hands, [Kirby's] tunes...bubble with broad wit, offering a delectably off-kilter alternative to sober-sided traditionalism..."
Option (1-2/97, p.79) - "...God bless Don Byron....BUG MUSIC blows the dust off the charts of several underappreciated composers and their groups--the Raymond Scott Quintette, John Kirby & his Orchestra and the Duke Ellington Orchestra..."
BUG MUSIC consists Don Byron's interpretations of the music of the Raymond Scott Quintette, John Kirby & His Orchestra, and the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
Personnel: Don Byron (conductor, vocals, baritone saxophone, clarinet); Uri Craine (vocals, piano); Dean Bowman (vocals); Steve Wilson (alto saxophone); Robert DeBellis (tenor saxophone); Charles Lewis, Steve Bernstein, James Zollar (trumpet); Craig Harris (trombone); David Gilmore (guitar); Paul Meyers (banjo); Kenny Davis (bass); Pheeroan akLaff, Billy Hart, Joey Baron (drums).
Recorded at Master Sound, Astoria, New York in May 1996. Includes liner notes by Don Byron.
Downtown clarinetist Don Byron has always been attracted to what he calls "compositional moments," demonstrated in his own work and a previous tribute album to klezmer great and proto-postmodernist Mickey Katz. On BUG MUSIC, a perfectly executed program divided among the classical music take-offs of the John Kirby Sextet, the quirky melodies of Raymond Scott, and Duke Ellington's small group excursions, Byron claims kinship with several genre-bending forebears who, like him, occupy the sometimes marginal space between serious music and jazz, writing and improvisation, formality and humor. Byron and his fellow virtuosos especially excel at (re)capturing the dizzy atmospherics of Scott's unclassifiable chamber pieces, including "The Penguin" and the always exhilarating "Powerhouse," all in exceptionally well-recorded living stereo. After all this intricate footwork, the band takes a well-deserved stretch on the long closer, Billy Strayhorn's genial "Snibor."
