Don Byas

Don Byas was one of the pioneers of Swing saxophone. His 1940s performances with Count Basie rival those of Coleman Hawkins' but after he moved to France in the late '40s Byas was largely forgotten by the American public. But Byas made a fine living in Europe and visiting artists Stan Getz and Art Blakey were lining up to play with him. Like Ben Webster and Johnny Hodges he never updated his style after the Bebop explosion because he never had to -- his recordings from the late '60s are as sublime as those made decades earlier.