Byas Bias

Ethan Iverson directed our attention to Don Byas in a recent blog-post - Do The Math. Don Byas was tenor saxophone master whose playing bridged the swing and bebop eras. His greatness is certainly demonstrated in the fabulous Coleman Hawkins' Keynote recordings featuring Don Byas, Tab Smith, and Harry Carney. Byas's Town Hall performance of "I got rhythm" with Slam Stewart on contra-bass   is one of the great recorded musical works of art and saxophone artistry. Mr Iverson's transcription of Mr Byas's solo can be found on Do The Math also.
  Story Time. I think that I told this Byas story before - I don't remember where I got it from; it is worth retelling. Don Byas's home base was in Europe for a number of years. He had a regular gig at a club in Paris France. Musicians from the USA would look up Byas to hear what he was playing when visiting or giging in Europe. One evening, Byas, while he was performing, saw John Coltrane come in the club and take a seat at the back of the club. After a couple of sets, Byas went up to Trane and asked him how long he had been sitting there. Trane told Byas that he had just come in! It must have been quite a saxophone lesson that Byas gave.