Sax Expat

Don Byas could have been one of the most famous saxophonists of his generation, but he left America at the height of his fame (1946) for Europe and never returned. Born in Oklahoma, which because of its large African-American population was a breeding ground for jazz musicians, he started playing professionally while still in high school, and became a respected practitioner of the tenor sax at a young age, playing with Lionel Hampton and Andy Kirk before joining Count Basie, where he made a name for himself with a solo on “Harvard Blues” that was a model of taste and artistic reserve. Byas was fired by Basie and fell in with a younger generation of musicians who were developing the new musical style that would come to be known as bebop. He fit in well with this group, and is heard on a number of seminal bop records. After World War II ended, Byas joined a group assembled by Don Redman for the first tour of Europe since the war began. He found the pace of life there more congenial than in America, and toured Spain and Portugal before settling in Paris. On a gig in Amsterdam he met the woman he would marry and settle down with, and they eventually decided to settle in Amsterdam to be near her parents and because of the lower cost of living there. These two steps down in terms of the jazz world—first to Europe, then to The Netherlands—cut Byas off from the jazz mainstream and limited his economic opportunities. He returned to America just once, where instead of the triumphant victory lap he expected, he had trouble finding work and recording opportunities. He returned to The Netherlands where he lived out his day, contented with his home and family life, but disappointed that he had perhaps traded fame and fortune for them.