A native of the Washington, D.C. area, Baron Tymas is a skilled and passionate performer, composer and educator who plays regularly with various artists in the southeast and abroad. In addition to the Trio, Baron currently works with the Nebulous Jazztet, led by trombonist Mitch Butler. Baron is an alumnus of F.R.E.N.S. (r&b/funk/jazz quintet, Richmond, VA), Cross Currents (fusion quartet, Washington, DC) and Black Sheep (reggae band, Washington, DC). He is an assistant professor of music at North Carolina Central University in Durham, NC. At NCCU, he heads the guitar program and is Assistant Director of Jazz Studies. During his career as a performer and educator, Tymas has been privileged to play with notable recording artists such as Antonio Hart, Ingrid Jensen, Jim Snidero, Rene Marie, Freddie Cole, Grady Tate, The Main Ingredient and many others. In the summers, he teaches at National Guitar Workshop's New Milford, Connecticut and McLean, Virginia campuses. He holds a master of music degree from Howard University and has taught at the University of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University and J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College. Blues for the Tribe, Baron’s CD debut CD as a leader, will be released in mid- 2006 on his own tymasmusic label. Baron's current trio, with Damon Brown (acoustic bass and bass guitar) and Thomas Taylor, Jr (drums) is tremendously intense, buoyant and lyrical. The group's jazz draws inspiration from bebop, blues, funk, Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, reggae and west African trailblazers. The melodies are striking, the harmonies deceptively modern, and the rhythms grooving, but unpredictable. This unit is also no stranger to the standards, and they know how to cook up unique interpretations of great tunes by Ellington, Gershwin, Shorter, Stevie Wonder and other masters. Underpinning it all is apparent telepathy, which can spin a song in surprising directions.
