Feb. 18, 1999 -- Berklee faculty and students are planning a musical tribute to the late piano great Jaki Byard, who was found shot to death in his Queens, New York, apartment last week. Byard was scheduled to visit Berklee as an Artist-in-Residence for the week of February 22 and was to be the featured performer at the concert on Wednesday, Feb. 24 at the Berklee Performance Center. In light of his tragic death, this concert now will be performed in his memory.

A Worcester, Massachusetts, native and a mainstay of the Boston jazz scene, Byard was best known for his collaboration with the legendary bassist Charles Mingus. Byard played piano on Mingus' classic album "The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady." He also recorded and toured with Maynard Ferguson and Eric Dolphy. In addition, Byard was a respected jazz composer and educator, beginning his teaching career at the New England Conservatory in 1969.

"He was a great performer, he was a great composer, and he was a wonderful teacher," said Ken Pullig, chair of Berklee's Jazz Composition Department. "We lost somebody that was a master at all three levels."

Berklee's Jazz Composition Department will lead the tribute concert on Feb. 24 at 8:15 p.m. at the BPC. A faculty ensemble will perform Byard's best known work "Aluminum Baby," and several other of his compositions. And guest vocalist Eric Mingus, son of Charles, will perform an arrangement of his father's "Duke Ellington's Sound of Love." Tickets, which are $4 for general admission, $1 for Berklee students and senior citizens, are available at the Performance Center box office, 747-2261

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For editorial information contact:

Sarah Godcher, publicist
Office of Public Information
Berklee College of Music
(617) 747-2658 or sgodcher@berklee.edu