(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Jazz legend Don Byron brings his group of musician friends back to Club Helsinki Hudson for a tribute to early soul, featuring the music of R&B legends Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Junior Walker, and other soul, funk, and jazz artists, on Saturday, August 5, at 9pm. Joining Byron is an all-star cast of New York City and Woodstock-based musical talents, including Bruce Katz, Joey Eppard, Mike Nappi, Scott Petito, and Matt Finck.

The musically omnivorous Don Byron recorded “Do the Boomerang: The Music of Junior Walker” in 2006. Though rooted in jazz, Byron’s music is stylistically eclectic. He has worked in many different musical genres, ranging from klezmer and Yiddish novelty (Byron was a charter member of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, with whom he performed for eight years) to German lieder, Afro-Cuban, Raymond Scott’s “cartoon jazz,” hard rock/metal, and rap. Byron primarily plays clarinet, but has also used bass clarinet and saxophones.

A member of the Black Rock Coalition, Byron has recorded with the late Allen Toussaint, Marc Ribot, Vernon Reid, Bill Frisell, Cassandra Wilson, Bobby Previte, and others. His compositional work has garnered him the Rome Prize Fellowship awarded by the American Academy in Rome in 2009, and he has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in composition several times.

For reservations in The Restaurant or in the club call 518.828.4800.