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 Byard Lancaster was born on August 6, 1942, in Philadelphia. Lancaster's
family is from the South; his mother was born near Gloucester, VA, and
his mother's family is registered as having started the first slave
uprising in 1743, on September 13th. His father was a very good businessman
and brought his mother to Philadelphia. Lancaster has three siblings; his brothers are a businessman and
politician and an educator, respectively, and his sister, Dr. Mary Anne
Lancaster Tyler, is a noted musicologist who studied with Donald Byrd and
Nathan Davis. Byard and his sister were the musicians of the family and played in
church starting in 1949. Byard played piano until age five, when his mother
bought him his first alto saxophone: “I wanted to play saxophone originally,
because there was this junkie across the street who sat on his porch high
and played every day.” More. . .
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