CANTALOUPE MUSIC RELEASES DON BYRON’S "A BALLAD FOR MANY"

As I mentioned on the updates page, I received an email today from Matt Marks, who works for an indie music label, Cantaloupe Music. They have released a CD called "A Ballad For Many" by clarinetist ⁄ composer Don Byron and the group "Bang On A Can". The first 6 tracks were inspired by Ernie’s classic "Eugene" (aka "The Silent Show")

Not only am I a comedian and devout Kovacs fan, but I’m also a jazz guitarist ⁄ composer so I think this is great! Getting an email about the great Don Byron and having an opportunity to let folks know about this is a priviledge for me.

On this page you will be able to read the press release, Don’s personal notes (he really gets what Ernie is about!) on the compositions and find links to various places where you can purchase the CD. I don’t own it yet, but I’ve listened to some clips and its just great!
Al Quagliata, JULY 6 2005

Cantaloupe Music Press Release, NEW YORK, NY, June 16, 2006

Cantaloupe Music, the NYC – based art ⁄ indie label, announces the release of a promotional mp3 download from their latest release, "Bang on a Can ⁄ Don Byron: A Ballad for Many."

Bang on a Can – part rock band, part chamber ensemble, has been pushing the boundaries of experiemental classical, world, and jazz music for 15 years. Their latest project – after years of live collaboration – is a full – length disc of clarinetist ⁄ composer Don Byron’s compositions, the followup to Byron’s Grammy – nominated "Ivey – Divey." This disc "A Ballad for Many" showcases the All – Stars as never – before – heard and features the compositions of Byron, rarely featured outside of his own discs. The CD is dedicated to ground – breakers, with a large – scale work dedicated to one – of – a – kind comic ⁄ satirist ⁄ star Ernie Kovacs (this mp3 is an excerpt from this), and to the Tuskegee Airmen, the famous African – American WWII – era fighter squadron.

You can buy the album through iTunes.

ED. NOTE: I run Win98, so I can’t download Itunes; you need XP or 2000. Here is a link to the CD on Amazon for those old timers who are like me. You can also buy the CD directly from Cantaloupe Music.

SOME NOTES ON THE PIECE FROM DON BYRON:

"Eugene is the first piece I completed for the All-Stars. It accompanies a video of the great comedian Ernie Kovacs. One of my earliest childhood memories is sitting on my parents' couch, swaddled in blankets, watching what would be the last of Ernie's TV specials. I can remember a blackout of Ernie posing as a used car salesman, slapping the hood of a suspect vehicle and seeing the entire car disappear into a hole in the ground. There were great silences, and interesting choices of music. I would not see his work again until I was in my teens, when PBS started airing reruns. By that time, I'd seen Bunuel, Dali, and Nam Jun Paik, so I understood the artistic gravity of what I was seeing. His choice of music was quite hip. Stravinsky and Bartok, silly songs of solfege, Esquivel, country music-- anything he liked was fair game (he even did an animated version of Firebird using cooking utensils). The Eugene character was probably an amalgamation of several things, with maybe a bit of Tennessee Ernie Ford in there. Eugene faces absurdity with bravery and joy. Something about him expresses his moment in history: nuclear threat, Cold War, McCarthyism, and a shift in what is considered high and low in our culture. Eugene presents himself to upper class people with no shame. They are the only humans of consequence that he encounters. He eats noisy vegetables, and wonders why they are so dull."

COMPOSER ⁄ CLARINETIST, DON BYRON

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