Biography
Born in Baltimore, cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum explores an expansive array of musical pursuits that span free jazz, contemporary composition, and cross-disciplinary collaborations involving dancers as well as filmmakers. He also serves as an educator, directing the jazz ensembles at Northeastern University. While still in high school he worked alongside trombonist Bill Lowe at Northeastern, then later studied under Anthony Braxton at Wesleyan University, from which he received his degree in 1998. In 1999 he contributed to a pair of Braxton recordings in addition to the duo album And Only Life My Lush Lament, made with Eric Rosenthal. Two years afterward Bynum appeared on Trio Ex Nihilo alongside Curt Newton and Jeff Song, and he also recorded with Alan Silva’s Sound Visions Orchestra. During 2002 he performed on Marriage of Heaven and Earth by the Fully Celebrated Orchestra and participated in duet albums with both Rosenthal and Braxton; that same year he assembled the SpiderMonkey Strings, an ensemble featuring cornet, string quartet, and electric guitar. That fall he returned to Wesleyan University to begin a master’s program in music composition, yet he continued performing with the Fully Celebrated Orchestra and additional ensembles in Boston and New York.
Bynum introduced his Sextet in 2007 on the album The Middle Picture. Two years later he joined the SpiderMonkey Strings and vocalist Kyoko Kitamura for Madeleine Dreams, after which he reconvened the sextet, adding guitarists Mary Halvorson and Evan O’Reilly, for 2009’s Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths. In 2010 the cornetist teamed with saxophonist Rodrigo Amado, bassist John Hébert, and drummer Gerald Cleaver on the exploratory Searching for Adam. He next joined bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck and guitarist Joe Morris for 2011’s Apparent Distance. Two years afterward he launched his 7-Tette on Navigation (Possibility Abstracts XII & XIII). The trio project Book of Three, again featuring Hébert and Cleaver, surfaced in 2014. In 2016 Bynum released Enter the Plustet, which highlighted a fifteen-piece group drawn from members of his Sextet and 7-Tette, among them trumpeter Nate Wooley, guitarist Mary Halvorson, saxophonist Matt Bauder, and additional players.
Bynum introduced his Sextet in 2007 on the album The Middle Picture. Two years later he joined the SpiderMonkey Strings and vocalist Kyoko Kitamura for Madeleine Dreams, after which he reconvened the sextet, adding guitarists Mary Halvorson and Evan O’Reilly, for 2009’s Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths. In 2010 the cornetist teamed with saxophonist Rodrigo Amado, bassist John Hébert, and drummer Gerald Cleaver on the exploratory Searching for Adam. He next joined bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck and guitarist Joe Morris for 2011’s Apparent Distance. Two years afterward he launched his 7-Tette on Navigation (Possibility Abstracts XII & XIII). The trio project Book of Three, again featuring Hébert and Cleaver, surfaced in 2014. In 2016 Bynum released Enter the Plustet, which highlighted a fifteen-piece group drawn from members of his Sextet and 7-Tette, among them trumpeter Nate Wooley, guitarist Mary Halvorson, saxophonist Matt Bauder, and additional players.
Albums
