Don Byas, a half-forgotten wonderful Saxo

Don Byas was a truly great tenor Saxophone performer.He went to Europe and remained there until his death, with a short trip back to the States to perform at the Newport Festival in 1970

.He died of cancer two years later in the Netherlands (he was married with a Dutch woman).He was 60 years old.

Let's get straight one thing here: he was one of the very best performers of the instrument that ever lived, and he had many influences on many others.

Here we will listen to him playing at Copenhagen, a city that also received his friend Ben Webster.

His version of "Laura", by the way, is one of the very best and most original ever played...I will have it here soon...