Short Bio

Taylor Ho Bynum is a performer on cornet and various brass instruments, composer, bandleader, and interdisciplinary collaborator with artists in dance, film, and theater. Bynum is committed to the further exploration of the extensions of composition and improvisation pioneered by 20th century masters like Ellington, Ives, and the AACM, but with a third millennial flavor and a trickster sensibility. He presently leads his Trio, his Sextet, and the nine-piece ensemble SpiderMonkey Strings, and has developed a body of solo music for cornet and duo work with dancer/choreographer Rachel Bernsen. In addition to leading his own groups, Bynum regularly performs with some of the most innovative figures in creative music, such as Anthony Braxton and Cecil Taylor, and has ongoing collaborations with such artists as Bill Lowe, Jason Kao Hwang, Joe Morris, Miya Masaoka, Stephen Haynes, Kwaku Kwaakye Obeng, Nate Wooley, Tomas Fujiwara, and the Fully Celebrated Orchestra. He is featured on over forty recordings, and has performed throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. His work with Anthony Braxton spans over ten years and ranges from duo to orchestra, with recent tours throughout Europe and North America and several new recordings. Their CD Duets (Wesleyan) 2002 has received wide critical acclaim. Bynum's 2005 CD with SpiderMonkey Strings, Other Stories (Three Suites), has been described as “the best album of the year” (All About Jazz) and “beautiful music and challenging throughout” (The Wire). Two new CDs were released in Spring ’07: True Events (duo with Tomas Fujiwara; The New York Times calls it “a scintillating album... a duologue crackling with improvisational energy but guided by compositional prescription”), and The Middle Picture (with his Sextet and Trio; which received “four stars” from Downbeat Magazine).