Byard Lancaster

Biography

Byard Lancaster (August 6, 1942 – August 23, 2012) was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist and flutist.

Early life and education

He attended two colleges, one for music, before attending the Berklee College of Music. He moved to New York City and participated in jam sessions which included saxophonist Archie Shepp and drummer Elvin Jones.

Career

In 1965, he recorded Sunny Murray Quintet with the album's eponymous musician in New York, performed in the Parisian Actuel festival with him in 1969, and continued to work in the drummer's groups throughout his career. By the 1970s, Lancaster had played with musicians such as McCoy Tyner, Khan Jamal, and Sun Ra, as well as some outside of jazz, such as blues pianist Memphis Slim and blues guitarist Johnny Copeland.
Near the end of his life he performed regularly with cellist David Eyges and recorded as a leader and sideman for the record label Creative Improvised Music Projects. He died of pancreatic cancer on August 23, 2012.

As leader / co-leader

1968: It's Not Up to Us (Vortex)
1972: Live at Macalester College (Dogtown) as the J. R. Mitchell/Byard Lancaster Experience
1974: Us (Palm) with Steve McCall, Sylvain Marc
1974: Mother Africa (Palm) with Clint Jackson III
1974: Exactement (Palm) with Keno Speller
1977: Exodus (Philly Jazz)
1977: Wildflowers: The New York Loft Jazz Sessions (Vol 2) (Casablanca/Douglas, Knit Classics) as Flight To Sanity
1979: Funny Funky Rib Crib (Vendémiaire/Palm)
1979: Documentation: The End of a Decade (Bellows)
1979: Personal Testimony (Then and Now) (Concert Artists)
1988: Lightnin' Strikes! (Black And Blue) with David Eyges
1992: My Pure Joy (Black Fire)
1993: Worlds (Gazell)
2000: Byard Lancaster Trio (Soultrane)
2001: Philadelphia Spirit in New York (CIMP) with Odean Pope, Ed Crockett, J.R. Mitchell
2003: The Out Cry (Lancaster) as Crockett, Mitchell & Lancaster
2005: "A" Heavenly Sweetness (Isma'a, Discograph)
2005: Pam Africa (Spirit Room)
2006: Soul Unity (Heavenly Sweetness) as Thunderbird Service
2006: Ancestral Link Hotel (Spirit Room)

As sideman

With Arcana

Arc of the Testimony (Axiom, 1997)
With Big Youth

A Luta Continua (Heartbeat, 1988)
With Change of the Century Orchestra

Change of the Century Orchestra (JAS, 1999)
With Cool Waters

Cool Waters (NCM, 1993)
With Johnny Copeland

Copeland Special (Rounder, 1981)
Jungle Swing (Verve, 1995)
Texas Party (DeAgostini, 1996)
Honky Tonkin' (Bullseye, 1999)
With Bill Dixon

Intents and Purposes (RCA Victor, 1967)
With David Eyges

The Arrow (Music Unlimited, 1981)
Crossroads (Music Unlimited, 1982)
With fONKSQUISh

Useless Education (Promo Preview, 2008)
With Doug Hammond

Folks (Idibib, 1980)
With Kip Hanrahan

Coup de tête (American Clavé, 1981)
With Ronald Shannon Jackson

Eye on You (About Time Records, 1980)
Nasty (Moers Music, 1981)
With Khan Jamal

Infinity (Stash 278, 1984)
Cubano Chant (Jambrio, 2000)
Black Awareness (CIMP, 2005)
Impressions of Coltrane (SteepleChase, 2009)
With Dwight James

Inner Heat (Cadence, 1983)
With Bill Laswell

Jazzonia (Douglas, 1998)
Moody's Mood for Love (Douglas, 1998)
Sacred System - Nagual Site (Wicklow/BMG, 1998)
Operazone - The Redesign (Knitting Factory, 2000)
Method of Defiance - Inamorata (Ohm Resistance, 2007)
With Garrett List

American Images (Horo, 1978)
Fire & Ice (Lovely Music, 1982)
The New York Takes (Carbon 7, 1998)
With Geoff Leigh and Frank Wuyts

From Here to Drums (No Man's Land, 1988)
With Byron Morris and Gerald Wise

Unity (EPI, 1972; Eremite, 2017)
With Sunny Murray

Sunny Murray (ESP Disk, 1966)
An Even Break (Never Give a Sucker) (BYG, 1970)
Charred Earth (Kharma, 1977)
Wildflowers: The New York Loft Jazz Sessions (Vols 1 and 5) (Casablanca/Douglas, 1977; Knit Classics, 1999)
With Robert Musso

Innermedium (1999, DIW Records)
With Errol Parker

Graffiti (Sahara, 1980)
With Odean Pope

The Ponderer (Soul Note, 1990)
With Vito Ricci

Postones (Creation Production Company, 1983)
With Sounds of Liberation

New Horizons (Dogtown, 1972)
Unreleased (Columbia University 1973) (Dogtown, 2018)
With Pierre Van Dormael, David Linx and James Baldwin

A Lover's Question (Label Bleu, 1999)
With Marzette Watts

Marzette Watts and Company (ESP-Disk, 1966)
With Larry Young

Heaven on Earth (Blue Note, 1968)