In 1970, tenor saxophonist Don Byas returned from Europe to perform at New York's Village Vanguard. He had been living abroad since 1946. A Dutch documentary called Homecoming was made of Byas's one-time return visit. In the documentary, the artist who Byas refers to as his close friend is pianist Jaki Byard. The band he plays with is the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. Previous clips of this film on YouTube were excerpts or were blurry. Byas died in 1972. [Photo above of Don Byas]
At YouTube, Milan Simich recently posted the full video but added the following:
The last four minutes of this documentary were distorted so I cut them off. I was at the Vanguard for Byas's return. I was sitting on the side between Don and Jo Jones on drums. After the first tune, Jo said something to Don, Don turned around and said something to Jo and and a big argument ensued. I thought Don was going to walk out, but the show went on. Jo Jones had a bad temper in his old age.
A special thanks to Matt LGroulx for sending along a link and to Milan Simich, for posting.
Here's Homecoming...
