CHRIS BYARS, a New York City-based saxophonist and composer, is accompanied by percussionists, bandleaders, educators, and is a recipient of numerous awards. His artistic focus is split between the creation of original material, and the study of the vast jazz repertoire of the 20th Century. Chris is a cultural ambassador of the U.S. State Department and has visited 44 American embassies to give concerts and to promote American culture. In 2014, he traveled to India, Oman and Tunisia. Jasmine Flower (SteepleChase) is his latest CD. It features original compositions as well as jazz arrangements of folk songs that he discovered on recent trips to China, Vietnam, and Morocco. Steeplechase will release a new Chris Byars Sextet recording, “the Music of Duke Jordan”, in August 2014. It features eleven original arrangements of classic jazz tunes. Chris Byars is the director of the Jazz Division of Cyprus Academy of Music International School and Festival (CAMSSF) during the summer 2014. He will be there from July 21 to August 1. From 2008 to 2013, Byars was also co-director at the Jazz Futures Workshop in Cyprus. Byars was recently selected to be the WDR’s guest soloist and arranger. Rehearsals begin in Cologne, Germany on September 2, 2014. from http://www.chrisbyars.net
