# Taylor Ho Bynum

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.

## Early life

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.

## Later life and career

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.
In September 2010, Bynum toured New England, traveling between gigs on a bicycle. In the same year, he recorded the quartet Searching for Adam. This was followed by Apparent Distance in 2011 and Navigation by his 7-Tette two years later. The former was a four-part suite, funded by Chamber Music America's 2010 New Jazz Works. The Throes was also from 2011, and was co-led by Nate Wooley, with whom Bynum had played for two years. Bynum released Navigation around 2013; it consisted of four performances of a single piece, with two being released on LP and two on CD (all four were released for digital download, which was also available to purchasers of either physical release). Bynum expounded on his releasing four recordings of the same piece: "I want to ask listeners to consider the composition as a set of possibilities rather than a fixed document, to encourage them to enjoy the mutable nature of the music in multiple realizations rather than focusing on one particular performance." In 2014, he undertook another "Acoustic Bicycle Tour" from Vancouver, Canada down the West Coast to Tijuana, Mexico, captured in a short documentary film by Chris Jonas. Book of Three was a trio album in 2014, and Enter the PlusTet two years later was performed by a 15-piece band. A new quartet, Illegal Crowns, was recorded in 2014.
In the area of education, Bynum has led jazz ensembles at Northeastern University, and has been the director of the Coast Jazz Orchestra at Dartmouth College since July 2017. He has also written about music for The New Yorker magazine. He has also served as the executive director of Anthony Braxton's Tri-Centric Foundation since 2010, producing and performing on most of Braxton's recent major projects, including his Trillium operas and his Sonic Genomes. A further activity has been organizing music events, including the Sound Genome project in Vancouver in 2010 and a festival at the Roulette club in New York City the following year.

## Composition and playing styles

A reviewer of Next commented that Bynum "deploys a litany of buzzes, whistles, drones, pinched fanfares and garrulous brass muttering in acrobatic arcs that twist and somersault." The overlaps of composition and improvisation are explored by Bynum; a reviewer of Illegal Crowns and Enter the PlusTet observed that they "are equally imaginative and revolutionary in their own right, characterized by a dogged exploration of the ebb and flow between composition and spontaneity."

## Awards

Bynum was Down Beat magazine's Rising Star Trumpeter in its critics poll of 2017.

## Discography

An asterisk (*) indicates that the year is that of release.

### As leader/co-leader

| Year recorded | Title | Label | Notes |
| 2018 | Geometry of Distance | Relative Pitch | Quartet, with Tomeka Reid (cello), Kyoko Kitamura (voice), and Joe Morris (guitar) |
| 2018 | The Ambiguity Manifesto | Firehouse 12 | 9-piece band, with Bill Lowe (bass trombone, tuba), Ingrid Laubrock (soprano sax, tenor sax), Jim Hobbs (alto sax), Ken Filiano (acoustic bass, electronics), Mary Halvorson (electric guitar), Stomu Takeishi (electric bass guitar), Tomas Fujiwara (drums), Tomeka Reid (cello) |
| 2016 | Geometry of Caves | Relative Pitch | Quartet, with Tomeka Reid (cello), Kyoko Kitamura (voice), and Joe Morris (guitar) |
| 2016* | Enter the PlusTet | Firehouse 12 | 15-piece band, with Stephanie Richards and Nate Wooley (trumpet), Vincent Chancey (French horn), Steve Swell (trombone), Bill Lowe (bass trombone, tuba), Jim Hobbs (alto sax), Ingrid Laubrock (soprano sax, tenor sax), Matt Bauder (tenor sax, baritone sax), Jason Kao Hwang (violin), Tomeka Reid (cello), Jay Hoggard (vibraphone), Mary Halvorson (guitar), Ken Filiano (bass), Tomas Fujiwara (drums) |
| 2015* | Owl Jacket | NoBusiness | As The Convergence Quartet. With Alexander Hawkins (piano), Dominic Lash (bass), Harris Eisenstadt (drums) |
| 2014 | Illegal Crowns | RogueArt | As Illegal Crowns. Quartet, with Benoît Delbecq (piano), Mary Halvorson (guitar), Tomas Fujiwara (drums) |
| 2014* | Through Foundation | [Self-released] | Duo, with Tomas Fujiwara (drums) |
| 2013* | Continuum (2012) | Relative Pitch | As Book of Three. Trio, with John Hébert (bass), Gerald Cleaver (drums) |
| 2012 | Navigation | Firehouse 12 | Two albums are sextet, with Jim Hobbs (alto sax), Bill Lowe (bass trombone, tuba), Mary Halvorson (guitar), Ken Filiano (bass), Tomas Fujiwara (drums); in concert. Two albums are septet, with Chad Taylor (vibraphone, drums) added |
| 2012* | Dibrujo, Dibrujo, Dibrujo... | Cuneiform | As Positive Catastrophe. 10-piece band, with Abraham Gomez-Delgado (percussion, vocals), Kamala Sankaram (accordion, vocals), Mark Taylor (French horn), Reut Regev (trombone), Matt Bauder (tenor sax), Michael Attias (baritone sax), Pete Fitzpatrick (guitar, vocals), Alvaro Benavides (bass), Tomas Fujiwara (drums) |
| 2011 | Slow and Steady | NoBusiness | As The Convergence Quartet. With Alexander Hawkins (piano), Dominic Lash (bass), Harris Eisenstadt (drums); in concert |
| 2011* | Apparent Distance | Firehouse 12 | Sextet, with Jim Hobbs (alto sax), Bill Lowe (bass trombone, tuba), Mary Halvorson (guitar), Ken Filiano (bass), Tomas Fujiwara (drums) |
| 2010 | Station Direct | Important | As The Thirteenth Assembly. Quartet, with Jessica Pavone (viola), Mary Halvorson (guitar), Tomas Fujiwara (drums) |
| 2011* | Next | Porter | Trio, with Joe Morris (guitar), Sara Schoenbeck (bassoon) |
| 2011* | The Throes | CIMP | Quartet, with Nate Wooley, Ken Filiano (bass), Tomas Fujiwara (drums) |
| 2010 | Duo (Amherst) 2010 | New Braxton House | Duo, with Anthony Braxton (baritone sax, alto sax, soprano sax, sopranino sax); DVD; in concert |
| 2009–10 | Book of Three | RogueArt | As Book of Three. Trio, with John Hébert (bass), Gerald Cleaver (drums) |
| 2010* | Stepwise | NotTwo | Duo, with Tomas Fujiwara (drums) |
| 2010* | Song/Dance | Clean Feed | As The Convergence Quartet. With Alexander Hawkins (piano), Dominic Lash (bass), Harris Eisenstadt (drums) |
| 2009* | Madeleine Dreams | Firehouse 12 | With SpiderMonkey Strings: Kyoko Kitamura (voice), Jason Kao Hwang (violin), Jessica Pavone (viola), Tomas Ulrich (cello), Pete Fitzpatrick (guitar), Joseph Daley (tuba), Luther Gray (drums) |
| 2009* | Garabatos Volume One | Cuneiform | As Positive Catastrophe. 10-piece band, with Abraham Gomez-Delgado (vocals, percussion), Jen Shyu (vocals, erhu), Michael Attias (baritone sax), Matt Bauder (tenor sax, clarinets), Reut Regev (trombone), Mark Taylor (French horn), Pete Fitzpatrick (guitar), Alvaro Benavides (bass), Tomas Fujiwara (drums) |
| 2009* | The OtherTet | Engine | Quartet, with Bill Lowe (bass trombone, tuba), Joe Morris (bass), Kwaku Kwaakye Obeng (drums, percussion) |
| 2008 | Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths | hatOLOGY | Two tracks solo cornet; two tracks trio, with Mary Halvorson (guitar), Tomas Fujiwara (drums) added; three tracks sextet, with Matt Bauder (tenor sax, bass clarinet), Jessica Pavone (viola), Evan O'Reilly (guitar) added |
| 2008* | The Double Trio | Engine | Trio, with Mary Halvorson (guitar), Tomas Fujiwara (drums); played with another trio: Stephen Haynes (trumpet), Allan Jaffe (guitar), Warren Smith (drums); in concert |
| 2007 | (un)sentimental | Important | As The Thirteenth Assembly. Quartet, with Jessica Pavone (viola), Mary Halvorson (guitar), Tomas Fujiwara (drums) |
| 2007* | True Events | 482 Music | Duo, with Tomas Fujiwara (drums) |
| 2006 | Live in Oxford | FMR | As The Convergence Quartet. With Alexander Hawkins (piano), Dominic Lash (bass), Harris Eisenstadt (drums); in concert |
| 2005–06 | The Middle Picture | Firehouse 12 | Sextet, with Matt Bauder (tenor sax, clarinet, bass clarinet), Mary Halvorson (guitar), Evan O'Reilly (guitar), Jessica Pavone (viola, bass), Tomas Fujiwara (drums); some tracks in concert |
| 2003–05 | Other Stories (Three Suites) | 482 Music | With SpiderMonkey Strings: Jay Hoggard (vibraphone), Jason Kao Hwang and Jean Cook (violin), Tomas Ulrich and Okkyung Lee (cello), Pete Fitzpatrick (guitar), Joseph Daley (tuba), Luther Gray (drums) |
| 2000–01 | Cenote | Cadence | Duo, with Eric Rosenthal (percussion) |
| 1998 | And Only Life My Lush Lament | Sachimay | Duo, with Eric Rosenthal (percussion) |