“He can take you to a place you may have avoided and make you feel comfortable there”. The Wall Street Journal described the musical world of Don Byron this way with good reason: his clarinet is equally at home in the music of Ellington, Schubert, Messiaen and Mickey Katz. As a sideman and collaborator Byron has already established himself as “arguably the best young jazz clarinetist in the country” (WSJ) . Now, on “Tuskegee Experiments”, his solo debut recording on Nonesuch, Byron lays claim to being among the most inventive and compelling musicians of his generation.

Taking its title from experiments conducted on Black American men at Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute, Don Byron’s first solo recording features seven original jazz compositions, an Ellington arrangement, and a transcription of a Schumann song. With a core trio consisting of guitarist Bill Frisell, bassist Lonnie Plaxico, and drummer Ralph Peterson, Byron offers a swinging, lyrical and totally individual representation of the jazz clarinet. The arc of the recording builds with the addition of players and intensity, climaxing with the title track and poetry by the Detroit-based writer Sadiq.