Don Byas

American jazz tenor saxophonist
Born October 21, 1912, Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA, died August. 24, 1972, Amsterdam, Netherlands

From a musical family, he succeeded Lester Young in the orchestra of Count Basie in 1941 and played with bop musicians in small groups, although he considered himself a swing musician. For the last quarter century of his life, Byas was based in Europe initially settling in Paris before moving to the Netherlands. He died from lung cancer.