Jazz ace Clay Lyons proves the benefits of a Madison education
http://www.isthmus.com/isthmus/article.php?article=29494
Phil Lyons is set to have one helluva Father's Day present. The Madison Area Music Awards' Brass Instrumentalist of the Year will leave his horn at home in order to watch his son Clay Lyons play his alto sax with the Jazz Tellers at the Brink Lounge on June 16. The 2007 Middleton High School graduate arrives home after nine shows in Hong Kong, where his Berklee College-based trio was joined on stage by local legend Kwok Wing Hei on trumpet and Canto-pop innovator Tsang Tak Hong on bass. As solid as his present musical company is, it's not like Lyons grew up playing with hacks. His early music education shows how serious jazz can get in Madison. He studied with some heavies: Roscoe Mitchell, Richard Davis and Tim Whalen. At 16 Lyons transcribed John Coltrane's mercurial "Giant Steps," and he was playing it within a week for his teacher Dan Wallach. "That's when Dan knew the kid was serious," says the elder Lyons.
Phil Lyons is set to have one helluva Father's Day present. The Madison Area Music Awards' Brass Instrumentalist of the Year will leave his horn at home in order to watch his son Clay Lyons play his alto sax with the Jazz Tellers at the Brink Lounge on June 16. The 2007 Middleton High School graduate arrives home after nine shows in Hong Kong, where his Berklee College-based trio was joined on stage by local legend Kwok Wing Hei on trumpet and Canto-pop innovator Tsang Tak Hong on bass. As solid as his present musical company is, it's not like Lyons grew up playing with hacks. His early music education shows how serious jazz can get in Madison. He studied with some heavies: Roscoe Mitchell, Richard Davis and Tim Whalen. At 16 Lyons transcribed John Coltrane's mercurial "Giant Steps," and he was playing it within a week for his teacher Dan Wallach. "That's when Dan knew the kid was serious," says the elder Lyons.