Byard Lancaster on Chestnut St and 17th, Philadelphia
Byard Lancaster - multi instrumentalist
Down in the cold canyon of Center City, Philadelphia Pa, on Chestnut St there is often music in the midday air. Vying for interest and the passing dollar, various performers work their different styles. With luck, a passerby turned listener near 17th St or sometimes 15th or Broad, may hear Coltrane's "Naima" played with marked facility and perhaps curiously medleyed with "Frere Jacque", meaning Byard Lancaster's doing his 'street thing'. Author, educator, multi-instrumentalist, collaborator with many of the world's finest musicians, wheeling out his craft in the noon day sun. Hard luck? No, thanks, just working a different field today, planting new seeds, bringing on the spirit, 'everybody's talkin bout a new way of walkin'. Music is a way of life.
To quote Byard from his book Horn Works, 'The entire world runs by rhythm and to study this continuous motion builds wisdom, self-confidence, product for export, and the symbolic essence for a love supreme. As the sands of the sea, we represent God's children that have been given individual talent to the eternal progression of Brotherhood. The study of sound is a beginning for creative development. Rhythms and melody are in everything. The sun, moon, tides, seasons, sex, dance, speech, art-forms. Culture is the message of the people. Coming generations depend upon the documentation of great societies. A disciplined artist brings the spirit to the people. Masters Bach, Beethoven, DeBussy, Mozart, Joplin, Armstrong, Ellington, Parker, Coltrane, Marley and a host of others were instruments of 'Divine Freedom'. Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord. Music is the universal language. The ritual, work-rhythms, entertainment, and survival sounds provide material for the industry. Musicians synthesize the Healing Feeling. Unconditional love, social relationships, festive moods, within their vocation. These elements are the 'Dynamics of Life'.'
More than just aphorism, his musical philosophy is life philosophy. From earliest inspiration in Providence Baptist Church in Germantown through world travel, study and performance with musical masters of different styles, Byard is driven to seek that sense of exalted communion that inwardly honest performance brings. It is part of a larger process. As he writes in Horn Works, 'The birds sing everyday. This is to say that human beings need beauty.' And 'Frere Jacque' played to children passing in strollers on Chestnut St. plants the seed for future generations. The sounds of the city flow into 'Naima' and 'A Love Supreme', crossing arbitrary cultural boundaries, once more bringing the spirit home.
So the 'street thing' appears as an expression of deeper calling, one that has carried Byard around the world, performing in Jamaican reggae bands, with Nigerian musical leader Fela Kuti, blues man Johnny Copeland, and a who's who of jazz masters including Sun Ra, John Coltrane, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Lee Morgan, extensive associations with Sunny Murray, Khan Jamal and so many others. His own current projects include the Sounds of Newest Africa Dance Band, that I had the good fortune to hear at best advantage several years ago at Philadelphia's Penn's Landing River Bluesfest. Fronting an impromptu big band comprised of different horns, multiple guitars and several percussionists, the group shook the tent to it's world music foundations as any lucky enough to be present would attest. The Riverfront clubs in Philly don't know what they are missing.
Everybody's talkin bout a new way of walkin. And the birds sing everyday.
A Message from Byard about Election Year 2003
Partial Discography
Personal Testimony - Concert Artist Vol 1 - Byard Lancaster solo recital
Safari Thru Babylon - tbd
Worlds - Gazell GJCD4005
- Byard Lancaster Quartet and Sextet:
Byard Lancaster, Keno Speller, Alfie Pollitt, Jim Dragoni, Kenny Davis,
Webb Thomas
My Pure Joy - Black Fire Records - tbd
Books By Byard Lancaster
Horn Works - Music Discipline - Jazz-Versity Press
Brain Work - Sex Action An Open Letter to African American Males
Ages 9 to 23
More Information on Byard including Contact Point