Don Byron is among those contemporary musicians who chart their own direction across the well-explored soundscape of jazz. Not for him the school-drilled boredom prevalent nowadays on too many stages. With Random Dances and (A)tonalities, the clarinetist and saxophonist duets with Cuban-born pianist Aruán Ortiz on thorny explorations that bump inside the formal limits. Perhaps it’s no surprise that one track is a stripped-to-essentials rendition of Duke Ellington’s ambitious yet soulful “Black and Tan Fantasy”; another is Byron’s solo arrangement for Bach’s Violin Partita No. 1 in B minor. Most of the material is original and suggests inspired moments at the jazz club long after closing time.
