Editing Don Byron (section)

==Biography==
His mother was a pianist. His father worked as a mailman and played bass in [[calypso music|calypso]] bands.<ref name="Kelsey">{{cite web |last1=Kelsey |first1=Chris |title=Don Byron |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/don-byron-mn0000177857/biography |website=AllMusic |access-date=31 December 2018 }}</ref> Byron listened to [[Dizzy Gillespie]] and [[Miles Davis]] while growing up, but he was exposed to other styles through trips to the ballet and symphony orchestra.<ref name="AAJ">{{cite web |title =Don Byron |publisher =All About Jazz |url =http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=3807 |access-date =2010-01-17 |url-status =dead |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20100606034630/http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=3807 |archive-date =2010-06-06}}</ref> When he was a child, he had asthma, and a doctor recommended playing an instrument to improve his breathing. This was why he started playing clarinet. He grew up in the South Bronx among many Jewish neighbors who sparked an interest in [[klezmer]]. Other influences include [[Joe Henderson]], [[Artie Shaw]], [[Jimmy Hamilton]], and [[Tony Scott (musician)|Tony Scott]]. In his teens he took clarinet lessons from Joe Allard. [[George Russell (composer)|George Russell]] was one of his teachers at the [[New England Conservatory of Music]] in Boston. At the school he was a member of Klezmer Conservatory Band led by [[Hankus Netsky]]. In the 1980s he moved to New York City where he played with avant-garde jazz musicians such as [[Hamiet Bluiett]], [[Craig Harris]], and [[David Murray (saxophonist)|David Murray]].<ref name="Kelsey" />

Byron is a member of the [[Black Rock Coalition]]. In 2001, he performed "[[Bli Blip]]" for the [[Red Hot Organization]]'s compilation album ''[[Red Hot + Indigo]]'', a tribute to [[Duke Ellington]] which raised money for charities devoted to increasing [[AIDS]] awareness and fighting the disease. He has recorded with [[Bill Frisell]], [[Joe Henry]], [[Marc Ribot]], [[Vernon Reid]], and [[Allen Toussaint]].

He has worked as a professor at [[Metropolitan State University of Denver]] (2015), [[The University at Albany]] (2005–2009), and [[MIT]] (2007–2008), teaching composition, improvisation, music history, clarinet, and saxophone.

Byron is a practicing jazz historian, and some of his albums have been recreations (in spirit) of forgotten moments in the history of popular music. Examples are ''[[Don Byron Plays the Music of Mickey Katz| Plays the Music of Mickey Katz]]'' and ''[[Bug Music (album)| Bug Music]]''.<ref name="Yanow">{{cite web |last1=Yanow |first1=Scott |title=Bug Music |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/bug-music-mw0000078877 |website=AllMusic |access-date=31 December 2018 }}</ref>