Taylor Ho Bynum
| Taylor Ho Bynum | |
|---|---|
At the Moers Festival, 2007
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| Background information | |
| Born | 1975 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, educator, writer |
| Instruments | Cornet, flugelhorn, trumpet, similar instruments |
| Years active | 1990s–present |
| Website | taylorhobynum.com |
Taylor Ho Bynum (born 1975) is a musician, composer, educator and writer. His main instrument is the cornet, but he also plays numerous similar instruments, including flugelhorn and trumpet.
Bynum was born in Baltimore in 1975, and grew up in Boston. His parents were fans of music, and professional musicians were often in the family home. Bynum's sister is writer Sarah Shun-lien Bynum.
Bynum began playing the trumpet at the age of ten, and played classical music in youth orchestras when at high school. At the age of 15, funding for music was cut at his school, so he joined the jazz big band at a local university instead; there, he was mentored by bass trombonist and tubaist Bill Lowe. Working in an ice cream shop meant that Bynum was able to organize weekly jazz concerts there. Around the early 1990s, Bynum first played with drummer Tomas Fujiwara. Continuing his interest in music, Bynum attended Wesleyan University, where he studied with a major influence on his future – Anthony Braxton – as well as with Pheeroan akLaff, Jay Hoggard, and others. Bynum graduated from Wesleyan in 1998.
In 1999, he played on two Braxton albums and a duo album with Eric Rosenthal. In addition to Lowe and Braxton, Bill Dixon was a formative influence on Bynum. His recording continued in 2001: on Trio Ex Nihilo with Curt Newton and Jeff Song, and with the Sound Visions Orchestra of Alan Silva. A year later, he recorded duets with Braxton and Rosenthal, as well as playing on the Fully Celebrated Orchestra's Marriage of Heaven and Earth, and creating a band with himself as cornetist, plus an electric guitar and string quartet, together named SpiderMonkey Strings. He also began a master's degree in music composition at Wesleyan. His sextet released its first album, The Middle Picture, in 2007, and Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths two years later. Bynum was also a member of Jason Kao Hwang's quartet named Edge. From 2007, Bynum has been part of The Convergence Quartet, with pianist Alexander Hawkins, bassist Dominic Lash, and drummer Harris Eisenstadt; they released their fourth album, Owl Jacket, in 2016. In 2007, Bynum co-founded the record label Firehouse 12, with engineer Nick Lloyd. The label's first release was Braxton's 9 Compositions (consisting of nine CDs and one DVD), and Bynum's The Middle Picture was next.
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