Don Byron

Dave Douglas

2008-02-17T19:44:00-05:00

"You have to develop your language somewhere. For me, that happens when I’m composing. Putting something on paper means ‘I wouldn’t mind hearing this again.’ That takes guts and develops the inner ear,” explains Dave Douglas. The 44-year trumpeter is a musician of many parts with almost two-dozen albums available from his Greenleaf Music website. He is director of the Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music and co-founded the Festival of New Trumpet Music. For this jazzman, “[Improvising and composing] go hand in hand, each illuminating the other.”

Douglas’s septet — with a standard horns-and-rhythm line up — plays his compositions as well as those of Don Cherry, Marylou Williams, Booker Little, and Wayne Shorter. Other projects have featured music by Stravinsky, Messiaen, Webern, and Weill. Keystone performs music to accompany shorts by the silent film actor/director Fatty Arbuckle. The Tiny Bell Trio focuses on Eastern European folk music. Brass Ecstasy — five-pieces, inspired by Lester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy — covers tunes by Rufus Wainwright, Mary J Blige and Bjork.

“I try to arrange my own material as freely as if I don’t owe myself anything,” explains Douglas. “That way you can make the unkindest cuts, which are sometimes necessary. But I think that with someone else’s material you have to ask yourself if the piece still makes sense or if you want it to. Do you want it to be recognizable?”

Educated at Phillips Exeter Academy, Berklee, the New England Conservatory, and NYU, Douglas’s discography lists John Zorn, Don Byron and Anthony Braxton as well as Sean Lennon, Suzanne Vega, Cibo Matto, and Tom Waits. His first big break came in the late ’80s when he joined Horace Silver’s band.

“Horace thought that what makes a player great is not what they play over each chord, but how they get from one chord to the next: voice leading, resolution. Horace really drove home that what was hip was the movement in the line,” notes Douglas. That’s a lesson I have kept with me even in the most abstract situations.”

BMI Jazz Giants Score in Down Beat 2007 Critics Poll

2007-07-27T17:27:00-05:00

BMI composers dominated the 2007 Down Beat Critics Poll, winning 69% of the awards. Celebrated bassist and bandleader Dave Holland was a multiple winner, taking home honors both for Bassist of the Year and Band of the Year for his quintet. The late pianist Andrew Hill was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame, and Miles Davis’s Legendary Prestige Sessions won in the Historical Album of the Year category.

A number of jazz masters were honored in various categories: Sonny Rollins (Tenor Saxophonist), Keith Jarrett (Pianist), Wayne Shorter (Soprano Saxophonist), Roy Haynes (Drummer), Joe Zawinul (Electric Keyboard & Synthesizer Player), Bobby Hutcherson (Vibist), James Moody (Flutist) and Toots Thielemans (Miscellaneous Instrumentalist). B.B. King was also honored as Blues Artist/Group of the Year.

Many of the most accomplished young lions received honors: Kurt Elling (Male Vocalist), Poncho Sanchez (Percussionist), Dave Douglas (Trumpeter), Steve Turre (Trombonist), Gary Smulyan (Baritone Saxophonist), Don Byron (Clarinetist), Joey DeFrancesco (Organist). The innovative blues performer Otis Taylor won Blues Album of the Year for Definition of a Circle.

For complete coverage of the awards, consult downbeat.com.

BMI Awards $10K Monk Prize to Jazz Pianist Kálmán Oláh

2006-09-18T05:00:00-05:00

Congratulations to jazz pianist Kálmán Oláh, grand prize winner of the 2006 BMI-sponsored Thelonious Monk International Jazz Composer's Competition. The $10,000 award was presented during the Thelonious Monk Institute's 20th Anniversary Gala held Sept. 20 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Oláh's winning work, performed by a group of jazz all-stars during the celebration, was entitled "Always." Listen to the the winning song, "Always"

For the past 13 years, BMI has sponsored the Composer's Competition, which awards $10,000 to the young composer who best demonstrates originality, creativity and excellence in jazz composition. This year's judges included three members of the BMI family: Jim McNeely and Michael Abene, musical directors of the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop, and clarinet player Don Byron.

BMI's Robbin Ahrold and Phil Graham, grand prize winner Kálmán Oláh, and TS Monk, Jr.

Born in 1970 in Budapest, Hungary, Kálmán Oláh began playing classical piano at the age of seven and started studying jazz piano at age 14. Greatly influenced by his grand-uncle, a Hungarian jazz pianist who was also one of his teachers, he continued playing jazz and began composing at the age of 17. Oláh attended the Béla Bartok Conservatory and completed his musical studies at the Franz Liszt Music University. In 1990, he established Trio Midnight, which launched his career in jazz. Since then, he has performed at festivals and concerts throughout the world.

Former BMI/Monk Jazz Composer's Competition winner Jackie Terrason (l), who performed "Always," congratulates 2006 winner Kálmán Oláh

Over the past decade, Oláh has recorded and performed compositions that fuse jazz and contemporary classical music with Hungarian folk music. Renowned for his distinctive compositional style and his original approach to playing jazz, Oláh has played and recorded with a number of well-known artists, including Lee Konitz, Randy Brecker, Pat Metheny, Steve Grossman, Jack DeJohnette, John Patitucci and Kenny Wheeler. He has recorded 10 albums in a variety of settings, including trio with strings, solo with chamber orchestra, and piano and bass duets, along with his rendition of Bach's "Goldberg Variations," which features his own improvisations over Bach's original themes.

Currently, Oláh is a member of the jazz faculty of the Liszt Music Academy of Budapest and leads big band workshops at the Berlin Jazz Institute. He plans to record a Concerto for Symphony Orchestra and Jazz Band, and is working on arrangements for his new compositions, which will be included on an album in memory of Béla Bartok. Earlier this year, Oláh received the Franz Liszt Award, the most prestigious award for music given by the Hungarian Ministry of Culture.

BMI is proud to represent the work of Thelonious Monk and the majority of today's outstanding jazz composers, including Monk Award winners Joshua Redman and Jackie Terrasson. BMI supports the careers of more than 220,000 American composers, and we are proud to represent Herbie Hancock, the Institute's Chairman, Billy Dee Williams, and, of course, T.S. Monk, Jr.

Established in 1986 in memory of the renowned jazz pianist and composer, the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz aims to preserve America's legacy of jazz through performance and education. The Institute offers the world's most promising young musicians college level training by America's jazz masters and presents public school-based jazz education programs for young people around the world. Additionally, the Institute provides scholarships, performance opportunities and worldwide recognition to gifted young musicians through its many jazz education programs. The Institute's most recent project is Jazz in America: The National Jazz Curriculum, a free Internet-based curriculum for 5th, 8th and 11th grade public school students.

BMI Jazz Greats Sweep ‘Downbeat’ Critics Poll

2006-07-17T18:00:00-05:00

Once again, BMI members swept the jazz world's annual "best of" list presented by Downbeat magazine, the voice of jazz since 1934. BMI's dedication to the advancement of original forms of American music exists as a cornerstone of the organization's very conception, and remains a priority today.


Sonny Rollins	Wayne Shorter	B.B. King

Sonny Rollins and Wayne Shorter both lead the gaggle of BMI winners with two awards apiece. Rollins earned the 2006 Jazz Artist of the Year and Tenor Saxophone Musician of the Year trophies, while the Wayne Shorter Quartet was declared Jazz Group of the Year; Shorter himself landed the Soprano Saxophone Player of the Year title.


Jackie McLean	Jamie Cullum	Thelonious Monk

The iconic B.B. King was recognized as Blues Artist of the Year, while saxophonist Jackie McLean was inducted into Downbeat's Hall of Fame.

Best Jazz Album went to Andrew Hill for Time Lines, his first original album since the 90s. Thelonious Monk won a posthumous award for Best Historical Album for his collaboration with John Coltrane.

BMI also dominated categories designated for the jazz community's brightest up-and-comers, as worldwide phenomenon Jamie Cullum was named Rising Star Male Vocalist and Luciana Souza earned the Rising Star Female Vocalist title. SFJAZZ Collective nabbed Rising Star Jazz Group honors as well, while Derek Trucks was honored as Rising Star Blues Artist.

BMI's Downbeat Critics Poll Winners:

Jackie McLean
Hall of Fame

Sonny Rollins
Jazz Artist
Tenor Saxophone

Wayne Shorter Quartet
Jazz Group

Wayne Shorter
Soprano Saxophone

Andrew Hill
Jazz Album

Thelonious Monk/John Coltrane
Historical Album

SFJAZZ Collective
Rising Star Jazz Group

Dave Douglas
Trumpet

Steve Turre
Trombone

Joe Zawinul
Electric Keyboard/Synthesizer

Uri Caine
Rising Star Electric Keyboard/Synthesizer

Dave Holland
Bass

Jack DeJohnette
Drums

Ray Barretto
Percussion

Hamid Drake
Rising Star Percussion

Bobby Hutcherson
Vibes

Kurt Elling
Male Vocalist

Jamie Cullum (PRS)
Rising Star Male Vocalist

Luciana Souza
Rising Star Female Vocalist

Toots Thielemans
Harmonica

B.B. King
Blues Artist/Group

Derek Trucks
Rising Star Blues Artist

Phil Woods
Alto Saxophone

Miguel Zenón
Rising Star Alto Saxophone

James Carter
Baritone Saxophone

Don Byron
Clarinet

Chris Speed
Rising Star Clarinet

James Moody
Flute

Nicole Mitchell
Rising Star Flute

Bill Frisell
Guitar

Keith Jarrett
Acoustic Piano

Ry Cooder
Beyond Album