''Don Byron Plays the Music of Mickey Katz'' is an album by clarinetist

Don Byron Donald Byron (born November 8, 1958) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. He primarily plays clarinet but has also played bass clarinet and saxophone in a variety of genres that includes free jazz and klezmer. Biography His mother w ...

featuring music associated with comedian and musician

Mickey Katz Meyer Myron "Mickey" Katz (June 15, 1909 – April 30, 1985) was an American musician and comedian. He was the father of actor Joel Grey and paternal grandfather of actress Jennifer Grey. Early life Meyer Myron Katz was born on Sawtell Court in ...

which was released on the

Nonesuch __NOTOC__ Nonesuch may refer to: Plants * ''Lychnis chalcedonica'', a wildflower * ''Medicago lupulina'', a wildflower Places and structures *Nonesuch, Kentucky *Nonesuch Island, Bermuda *Nonesuch Mine, Michigan *Nonesuch Palace, mis-spelling of ...

label in 1993.

Reception

The

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

review by Bob Tarte stated "Playing Katz's songs demands prodigious chops, hence the attraction of Katz to molecule-splitting clarinetist Don Byron, who demonstrates nerve presenting Katz the monologist as the equal of Katz the composer. In sum, convoluted, kaleidoscopic silliness topped with Byron's usual dazzling self". "I was staggered, bewildered, touched and moved," was the reaction of actor-director

Joel Grey Joel Grey (born Joel David Katz; April 11, 1932) is an American actor, singer, dancer, photographer and theatre director. He is best known for portraying the Master of Ceremonies in the musical ''Cabaret'' on Broadway as well as in the 1972 fil ...

, the son of Mickey Katz. "It was like my father, who died . . . years ago, was inside of him."

Track listing

All compositions by Mickey Katz except where noted # "Prologue: ...Shed No Tears Before the Rain" (Don Byron) – 4:08 # "Frailach Jamboree" – 2:34 # "Haim Afen Range" (Traditional) – 2:49 # "Mamaliege Dance" (Nat Farber, Mickey Katz) – 2:23 # "Sweet and Gentle" (Monterrey Portal, George Thorn) – 3:02 # "Litvak Square Dance" – 2:08 # "

C'est Si Bon "" (; ) is a French popular song composed in 1947 by Henri Betti with the lyrics by André Hornez. The English lyrics were written in 1949 by Jerry Seelen. The song has been adapted in several languages. History In July 1947, Henri Betti w ...

" (

Henri Betti Henri Betti, born Ange Betti (24 July 1917 – 7 July 2005), was a French composer and a pianist. Pianist and composer of Maurice Chevalier from 1940 to 1945, Henri Betti is best known for composing the music of the songs ''C'est si bon'' (lyric ...

André Hornez André Hornez (12 May 1905 – 9 March 1989) was a French lyricist and screenwriter. Lyricist of Paul Misraki in the years 1930-1940 for which he writes many songs lyrics like ''Qu'est-ce qu'on attend pour être heureux?'' (1937), André Hornez ...

Jerry Seelen Jerome Lincoln Seelen (March 11, 1912 - September 12, 1981) was an American screenwriter and lyricist . Biography Jerry Seelen wrote lyrics for songs in musical films and wrote screenplays for radio and television. During his lyricist career ...

) – 2:27 # "Trombonik Tanz" (Farber, Katz) – 3:14 # "Bar Mitzvah Special" (Farber, Louis Singer) – 3:02 # " Dreidel Song" (Traditional) – 4:48 # "Seder Dance" – 2:12 # " Paisach in Portugal" (Raul Ferrão, Jimmy Kennedy) – 3:08 # "Berele's Sherele" (Farber, Benny Gill) – 1:48 # "Mechaye War Chant" (Katz, John Noble,

Ralph Freed Ralph Freed (1 May 1907, Vancouver - February 13, 1973) was a Canadian born American lyricist and television producer. Early Life Born May 1, 1907 to Max Freed and Rosie (Rosza) Grossman who met in Charleston, SC. Ralph married Grace H. Berchma ...

) – 2:50 # "Kiss of Meyer" (Lester Allen, Robert Hill) – 2:20 # "Epilogue: Tears" (Byron) – 7:12 # "Wedding Dance" – 2:26

Personnel

–

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

, vocals, conductor *

J. D. Parran J. D. Parran is an American multi-woodwind player, educator, and composer specializing in jazz and free improvisation. He plays the soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, and bass saxophone, as well as the E-flat clarinet, alto clarinet, bass clarinet, ...

– clarinet,

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave bel ...

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third-smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists (from smallest to largest) of the soprillo, sop ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

* Mark Feldman – violin,

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

* Dave Douglas – trumpet, background vocals *

Josh Roseman Josh Roseman (born 5 June 1967) is an American jazz trombonist. His nickname is "Mr. Bone". He studied in Newton North High School. Roseman was born in Boston, and studied at the New England Conservatory of Music. Roseman toured Jamaica with The ...

–

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

, horse lips, boat whistle, background vocals *

Uri Caine Uri Caine (born June 8, 1956, Philadelphia, United States) is an American classical and jazz pianist and composer. Biography Early years The son of Burton Caine, a professor at Temple Law School, and poet Shulamith Wechter Caine, Caine began p ...

– piano, background vocals *Steve Alcott –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

*Richie Schwarz – drums. percussion,

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in the ...

Lorin Sklamberg Lorin Sklamberg is a vocalist, accordionist, pianist, guitarist and founding member of American Klezmer band The Klezmatics. He began performing Jewish music at age fifteen, and moved to New York in the early 1980s to incorporate klezmer into his ...

– lead vocals (tracks 5–8, 10–12 & 15) *Avi Hoffman – lead vocals (tracks 3 & 14), background vocals *Brandon Ross – guitars (tracks 1 & 3) *

Jerry González Jerry González (June 5, 1949 – October 1, 2018) was an American bandleader, trumpeter The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the hig ...

–

Latin percussion {{for, the company, Latin Percussion Latin percussion is a family of percussion, membranophone, lamellophone and idiophone instruments used in Latin music. Instruments Afro-Cuban and Puerto Rican styles Folkloric and Santeria * Trap drums * Abakua ...

(track 5) *Dan Hovey –

Hawaiian guitar Hawaiian guitar may refer to: *Lap steel guitar, a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap *Ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ...

, guitar (tracks 14 & 16) *

Jay Berliner Jay Berliner (born May 24, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American guitarist who has worked with Harry Belafonte, Ron Carter, Charles Mingus, and Van Morrison, among others. Career Berliner had his first television experience at age seven w ...

–

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

(track 12) *Loretta Malta – background vocals (track 12) *Rosalie Gerut – additional vocals

References

{{Authority control 1993 albums Don Byron albums Nonesuch Records albums