Editorial Review:

Amazon.com essential recording:
As with Don Byron's journeys into klezmer (on Plays the Music of Mickey Katz) and swing (on Bug Music, there's nothing predictable about this 1995 take on Latin jazz. Byron combines relaxed, sometimes even languid, rhythmic backdrops with complex compositional structures and then forges surreal links with a collection of names from the news. There's nothing overtly programmatic about his multifaceted take on the Los Angeles riots--or the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill affair or Al Sharpton; perhaps the connection exists between Byron's own quixotic sense of form and the impossibility of making sense of the people and events he invokes. Overall, this album is one of Byron's most arresting outings as a composer, with the largely unheralded sidemen, including cornetist Graham Haynes and pianist Edsel Gomez, fleshing out an original musical conception. Byron's mercurial clarinet is a brilliant presence throughout, while frequent associate Bill Frisell adds an electrified touch with his guest spot on "I'll Chill on the Marley Tapes." --Stuart Broomer

Rating: - Keep the groove!
I recently saw Byron at the Jazz Standard in NYC and was impressed. I expected to have a night of "intellectual", maybe even "cold-hot" jazz into which so many wanna-be jazz followers are into these days. I was extremely enchanted when I found that this band was able to be REALLY latin-hot, spicy and kept the groove up, which is not to say that the technical mastery was out the door, rather the opposite. Seriously, this was one of the best shows I have seen lately because it restored my faith ... Read More