Interview and performance of musician Don Byron with his project, "Ivey-Divey," 2004.

Don Byron was a 2007-08 MLK Visiting Professor hosted by the MIT Music and Theater Arts Department. The Grammy-nominated clarinetist, saxophonist, composer, arranger, and social critic redefines every genre of music he plays: classical, salsa, hip-hop, funk, rap, R&B, klezmer music and German lieder, Raymond Scott's "cartoon-jazz," hard rock/metal, and jazz styles from swing and bop to cutting-edge downtown improvisation. Most of Byron's albums have been conceptual, devoted to works of a particular musician and/or style of music. Though rooted in jazz, Byron has been a singular voice in an astounding range of musical contexts, exploring widely divergent traditions while continually striving for what he calls "a sound above genre".

I am the kind of musician who figures out how things work, and in an environment like MIT, one finds students who can do a lot with that kind of information.