Don Byron's set up

[daigle65]

Does anyone know what mpc/reed combination he uses on Bb? I've searched this forum and his website but there's no info.
I want to know because of course I'll sound exactly like him if I use his set up;)

[dolphyo]

I once read long ago when he first hit the national Jazz scene with the Tuskeegee experiments that he favors Vandoren 5RV LYRE mpcs. not sure on the reeds but it does sound like harder(#4 to #5reeds)reeds just going by his technique and he loves doing half keying,screaming,growling singing notes only on the altissimo range and does go pretty high for effect in context of the arrangement. i know he relies heavily on two of the top clarinet tech's in NYC and they are Jimmy Yan and Guy Chadash. so it is safe to say he doesn't use any stock mouthpiece,barrel,bells etc...great conceptualist and player and can't get enough.

[daigle65]

I once read long ago when he first hit the national Jazz scene with the Tuskeegee experiments that he favors Vandoren 5RV LYRE mpcs. not sure on the reeds but it does sound like harder(#4 to #5reeds)reeds.I would have thought he'd be playing more open then that but it does sound like hard reeds...great conceptualist and player and can't get enough...same here, I'm listening to "ivey-divey" these days, it has the most unique version of "I've found a New Baby".

[dolphyo]

daigle65, glad i can offer some info of such a great artist. i'm sure you are aware of Francois Houle in Canada. he is also a great new music modernist who dabbles in Jazz. if you really want to get immersed in Jazz with clarinet in a modern context then try anything by the late great John Carter who as a stylist had everything together in a nice package but a better composer and thinker. he was a mixture of Ornette and Bartok in a way that took simple folk melody and rythms to very beautiful places.

[clarnut]

For some reason, it sticks in the back of my head somewhere, I thought I once read that he used a Borbeck mouthpiece, but then again, I might be hallucinating.

[littlemanbighorn]

daigle65, glad i can offer some info of such a great artist. i'm sure you are aware of Francois Houle in Canada. he is also a great new music modernist who dabbles in Jazz. if you really want to get immersed in Jazz with clarinet in a modern context then try anything by the late great John Carter who as a stylist had everything together in a nice package but a better composer and thinker. he was a mixture of Ornette and Bartok in a way that took simple folk melody and rythms to very beautiful places.

It's nice to see other people mentioning Francois. He's my clarinet teacher (he was my first clarinet teacher 8 years ago and is again.) at Vancouver Community College where I'm currently finishing my degree as a clarinet major. It's both daunting and inspiring to go in there every week and play Rose studies for him.
Check out his record of John Carter tunes, In the Vernacular, with Dave Douglas and Mark Dresser.