Chris Byars

Byars was born in New York City on November 2, 1970, to oboist James Byars and clarinetist Janita Byars.{{Cite magazine |last=Stewart |first=Zac |date=June 2004 |title=Extended families |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/194495413 |magazine=Jazziz |language=en |pages=28–29 |access-date=November 20, 2023|id={{ProQuest|194495413}} }} At six, he debuted as an opera performer joining the New York City Opera and Metropolitan Opera children's choirs, the New York City Ballet, and attending the School of American Ballet from ages 8 to 11 years old.{{Cite news |date=March 25, 2009 |title=Top US jazz band at Upstairs Downstairs |language=en |work=Gulf Daily News |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/432739574 |access-date=November 22, 2023 |id={{ProQuest|432739574}}}} He performed hundreds of shows as a child,{{Cite web |last=vanTrikt |first=Ludwig |date=September 30, 2009 |title=Chris Byars: Studying Unsung Heroes article @ All About Jazz |url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/chris-byars-studying-unsung-heroes-chris-byars-by-ludwig-vantrikt/ |access-date=November 23, 2023 |website=All About Jazz |language=en}} including the title role in a made-for-TV adaptation of The Spellbound Child with George Balanchine.{{Cite web |last=Cohen |first=Noal |date=November 2021 |title=Chris Byars – Bio |url=https://chrisbyars.com/bio |access-date=November 21, 2023 |website=chrisbyars.com}} Puberty deepened his voice, and his singing career came to an end when his voice croaked during a performance of Tosca.{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=Martin |date=August 9, 2007 |title=Trane Has Left the Station |url=https://nymag.com/arts/popmusic/reviews/35798/ |access-date=November 20, 2023 |website=New York |language=en}}

When Byars returned from his final tour as a singer in 1983, he was given a saxophone by his father and began focusing exclusively on jazz. As a teenager, he studied the music of Charlie Parker after his father gave him the albums Bird and Diz and Charlie Parker with Strings. Byars was influenced as a teenager by bassist Aaron Bell, pianist Barry Harris, who mentored him, and author Frank McCourt, his creative writing teacher at Stuyvesant High School.{{Cite web |title=Smalls Records -- Artists / Chris Byars |url=http://www.smallsrecords.com/art-byars.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231126033049/http://www.smallsrecords.com/art-byars.htm |archive-date=November 26, 2023 |access-date=November 26, 2023 |website=www.smallsrecords.com}} He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in music from the Manhattan School of Music in 1990 and 1992 respectively.

Byars first set as a leader was a 1989 quartet date at the Angry Squire.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4IYZGbl4Gs&t=595s |title=Jazz Flashes Podcast: Chris Byars |date=April 30, 2017 |type=Podcast |language=English |time=9:55 |access-date=December 8, 2023 |via=YouTube |people=Anton Garcia-Fernandez, Chris Byars}} In 1990, Byars co-founded Across 7 Street with Ari Roland as a tribute band to the erstwhile saxophonist Clarence Sharpe.{{Cite web |last=Kaven |first=Luke |date=November 2003 |title=Smalls Records – Across 7 Street / Made in New York |url=http://www.smallsrecords.com/a7s-miny.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204033217/http://www.smallsrecords.com/a7s-miny.htm |archive-date=December 4, 2023 |access-date=December 4, 2023 |website=www.smallsrecords.com}} The band performed Sunday nights at Smalls Jazz Club, playing original compositions inspired by the bebop era. In 1998, Byars joined the Frank Hewitt quintet, which featured former Across 7 Street members Roland and Jimmy Lovelace, performing Saturday nights with him for four years.

Byars has visited more than 50 countries as a jazz ambassador.{{Cite web |date=February 8, 2021 |title=Intergenerational Jazz Power Jam featuring jazz artist, ambassador and contact tracer Chris Byars – Jazz Power |url=https://jazzpower.org/2021/02/intergenerational-jazz-power-jam-featuring-jazz-artist-ambassador-and-contact-tracer-chris-byars/ |access-date=January 4, 2024 |website=Jazz Power Initiative |language=en-US}} He began touring as part of the Ari Roland quartet with the State Department in December 2006 after making it to the finals of a competition held at Jazz at Lincoln Center.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4IYZGbl4Gs&t=1873 |title=Jazz Flashes Podcast: Chris Byars |date=April 30, 2017 |type=Podcast |language=English |time=31:13 |access-date=December 8, 2023 |via=YouTube |people=Anton Garcia-Fernandez, Chris Byars}} The tours are intended to improve America's image abroad, and feature Byars collaborating with local musicians and incorporating elements of their native traditions into jazz.

Inspired by his 2007 tour of Central Asia, Byars wrote the suite Jazz Pictures at an Exhibition of Himalayan Art, based on the Modest Mussorgsky piece Pictures at an Exhibition.{{Cite magazine |date=January 2008 |title=Global Trips and Mental Journeys |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/225199489 |magazine=International Musician |language=en |publisher=American Federation of Musicians |volume=106 |issue=1 |page=21 |id={{ProQuest|225199489}} |access-date=December 9, 2023 |url-access=subscription}} The work has some foreign influences but is primarily based in the language of American jazz. It debuted at an October 2007 show at the Rubin Museum of Art,{{Cite web |last=Whitehead |first=Kevin |date=April 21, 2008 |title=Chris Byars, Hearing Music in Himalayan Art |url=https://www.wwno.org/2008-04-21/chris-byars-hearing-music-in-himalayan-art |access-date=December 17, 2023 |website=WWNO |language=en}} and was again played at the Museum in April 2008. The live performances featured Byars playing in front of a slideshow.{{Cite web |last=Friedwald |first=Will |date=April 21, 2008 |title=From Harlem to the Himalayas |url=https://www.nysun.com/article/arts-from-harlem-to-the-himalayas |access-date=December 17, 2023 |website=The New York Sun |language=en}} An album of the same name was later released, with each composition corresponding to a painting on display at the Museum.{{Cite web |last=Yanow |first=Scott |author-link=Scott Yanow |title=Chris Byars – Jazz Pictures at an Exhibition of Himalayan Art Album Reviews, Songs & More |website=AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/jazz-pictures-at-an-exhibition-of-himalayan-art-mw0000752680 |access-date=December 17, 2023 |language=en}}

In 2008, Byars' quartet toured as part of The Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad, playing in Slovakia, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, Montenegro, and Slovenia. In Muslim-majority areas, Byars won audiences over by telling them the story of Muslim American musician Basheer Qusim, {{aka}} Gigi Gryce.{{Cite web |last=Jarenwattananon |first=Patrick |date=October 21, 2009 |title=Chris Byars, Gabriel Alegria, Dafnis Prieto: New York Concert Notes |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/ablogsupreme/2009/10/chris_byars_gabriel_alegria_da.html |access-date=December 9, 2023 |website=NPR}}

After performing in a commemoration of the reopening of Ledra Street crossing, Byars co-directed the "Jazz Futures" program organized by the American embassy in Cyprus with Roland from 2008 to 2013.{{Cite web |date=March 5, 2016 |title=Jazz in Karachi |url=http://www.brecorder.com/news/4382160 |access-date=December 15, 2023 |website=Brecorder |language=en}} The series brought together Byars' groups and Turkish and Greek Cypriot musicians and audiences.{{Cite news |last=Christodoulides |first=Zoe |date=June 28, 2009 |title=Jazz without borders |work=Cyprus Mail |publisher=SyndiGate Media |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/431354295/citation/13FA29AB7880488DPQ/1 |id={{ProQuest|431354295}}}}{{Cite web |title=Chris Byars – Teaching |url=https://chrisbyars.com/teaching |access-date=January 3, 2024 |website=chrisbyars.com}}

Byars has recorded a number of tribute albums and live sets, playing the compositions of lesser known post-bop musicians. As part of the programs, Byars infuses his own musical identity with those of his predecessors.{{Cite web |last=Jarenwattananon |first=Patrick |date=July 9, 2011 |title=What's With All The Jazz Tribute Albums? |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/ablogsupreme/2011/07/13/137713529/whats-with-all-the-jazz-tribute-albums |website=NPR}}

From March 22 to 25, 2006, Byars led a four-night set at Smalls playing the compositions of Lucky Thompson, performing, at various points, with former Thompson sidemen John Hicks and Jerry Dodgion. During the preparation for the set, Byars and historian Noal Cohen discovered a private recording of an August 28, 1961, radio broadcast of Thompson's octet. Byars transcribed every arrangement on the recording and taught them to the members of his own octet.{{Cite magazine |last=Ann Lee |first=Nancy |date=July–August 2011 |title=Lucky Strikes Again: The Chris Byars Octet Plays the Music of Lucky Thompson |url=https://www.jazz-blues.com/pdf/JazzBlues336.C.pdf |magazine=Jazz & Blues Report |pages=19–20 |access-date=December 22, 2023}} These compositions, as well as re-arrangements from Thompson's quartet records, were later played on the album Lucky Strikes Again.{{Cite web |last=Ramsey |first=Doug |date=April 27, 2011 |title=Recent Listening: Lucky Strikes Again {{!}} Rifftides |url=https://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/2011/04/recent-listening-lucky-strikes-again.html |access-date=December 23, 2023 |website=www.artsjournal.com}}

In 2007, Byars' quartet played at Teddy Charles' house, at the behest of Cohen, helping to coax the vibraphonist-turned-captain back into playing music. In June of the next year, Byars premiered the composition Bop-ography, inspired by Charles' life, in Greenwich Village.{{Cite magazine |last=Fine |first=Eric |date=September 2009 |title=Vibist Charles Returns from Life at Sea |url=https://www.downbeat.com/digitaledition/2009/DB0909/_art/DB0909.pdf#page=58 |magazine=Downbeat Magazine |page=58 |access-date=December 31, 2023}} He also played with the Teddy Charles Tentet in its first appearance since Charles' retirement.{{Cite web |last=Cohen |first=Noal |title=The Return of Teddy Charles (2008) |url=https://attictoys.com/the-return-of-teddy-charles-2008/ |access-date=January 2, 2024 |website=Noal Cohen's Jazz History Website |language=en-US}} Byars would later record with Charles on Dances with Bulls, Charles' first studio recording in forty years, and his own album Bop-ography.{{Cite web |last=Nastos |first=Michael |title=Teddy Charles – Dances with Bulls Album Reviews, Songs & More |website=AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/dances-with-bulls-mw0000807930 |access-date=January 2, 2024 |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Dryden |first=Ken |title=Chris Byars Quartet – Bop-Ography Album Reviews, Songs & More|website=AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/bop-ography-mw0001983527 |access-date=January 2, 2024 |language=en}}

Byars has also worked on projects commemorating Freddie Redd, Gigi Gryce, Duke Jordan, Frank Strozier, and Jimmy Cleveland.

Byars' music is based in 1950s bebop, though with additional contemporary stylings. He developed as one of many younger players at Smalls Jazz Club during the 1990s, working with veteran players like Jimmy Lovelace and Frank Hewitt.{{Cite web |last=Hull |first=Tom |title=Jazz CG #15 |url=http://tomhull.com/ocston/arch/jcg/jcg-15.php |access-date=January 4, 2024 |website=tomhull.com |language=en |quote=Much as bebop developed underground in places like Minton's where musicians gathered to play for each other, the same dynamic developed at Smalls in the '90s, connecting a new generation to unreconstructed veterans such as Frank Hewitt and through them to the foundations of modern jazz.}} Byars has used the octet format in his band to exploit the texture gains from a big band while retaining the fluidity of a small group.{{Cite magazine |last=Holston |first=Mark |date=June 2011 |title=Lucky Strikes Again |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1371842784 |magazine=Jazziz |pages=51, 53|id={{ProQuest|1371842784}} }}

Byars is a member of American Federation of Musicians Local 802. He lives with his second wife, Ayna, and has two children from a previous marriage.{{Cite web |title=Chris Byars Musician – All About Jazz |url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/chris-byars/ |access-date=January 2, 2024 |website=All About Jazz Musicians |date=December 13, 2023 |language=en}} During the COVID-19 pandemic, he took up various government jobs for financial reasons. He has one brother, Michael Byars.{{Cite web |date=Fall 2003 |title=Moore Tidings |url=https://www.uncp.edu/sites/default/files/2017-11/v11_num1.pdf |access-date=January 13, 2024 |publisher=UNC Pembroke |page=6}}

Source{{Cite web |last=Cohen |first=Noal |title=Chris Byars Discography |url=https://attictoys.com/chris-byars-discography/ |access-date=January 3, 2024 |website=Noal Cohen's Jazz History Website |language=en-US}}

{{reflist}}

• {{URL|chrisbyars.net|Official website}}
• {{AllMusic|id=mn0000091455|}}
• {{Discogs artist}}
• [https://attictoys.com/chris-byars-discography/ Discography from Noal Cohen]

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Category:1970 births

Category:Manhattan School of Music alumni

Category:School of American Ballet alumni

Category:Living people

Category:SteepleChase Records artists

Category:American jazz saxophonists

Category:Jazz musicians from New York City

Category:Across 7 Street members