Don Byron and his "Bug Music" Ensemble were the attraction at swanky Swarthmore College on Sunday night. I am fortunate to have a friend in that township, who happened across the student paper announcing that show - just in time, too, only a few hours before the show, which was free, and open to the public.

And a wonderful show it was. Uri Caine on piano, Drew Gress on bass, Ben Perowsky on drums, James Zollar and Charles Lewis on trumpets, and Robert DeBellis on alto and tenor saxes.

Byron was a genial host, seeming to have a certain amount of movement by the musicians choreographed into the presentation. The horn players wandered off, stage left, after the initial introduction of the band, as Byron played solo clarinet, at length. Then he and the rhythm section took off into "W.R.U." , an Ornette Coleman piece that was included on his "No Vibe Zone" album. After a second quartet piece, (I think it was a number from the Ellington/Coltrane album) Byron acted as Pied Piper, calling the other horn players back from the wings with his clarinet.

Over the course of the first, hour-long set, there were only two Bug Music pieces. In one extended mainstream piece, outstanding moments included a heavily bebop solo from Lewis (featuring Dizzy-like slurs, brassy high notes, and fast runs) and a drum/sax duet during which Perowsky backed DeBellis with a range of percussive techniques, from funk backbeat to bebop cymbals, to cowbell kicks, and the saxist roared in return. Byron directed this piece moving about the stage and cueing the band so that each soloist was supported differently from the others.

Another showpiece was a duet of Caine and Byron, where they ranged from stride to Cecil Tayloresque explosions. Caine was monstrously good, all over the keys, lyrical at times, percussive and dissonant at others. He even managed to work some of his virtuosity into his brief solos during Bug Music, where the piece itself confined him fairly tightly. Byron was amazing, and playful both musically (he played a solo version of the theme from "Goldfinger" - also featured on "No Vibe Zone") and verbally. At the end of the show, he mentioned a new album ready for release on Blue Note, but said that if anyone in the audience really liked the Bug Music disk, they probably wouldn't care for the new one. During the half-hour long second set of Bug Music pieces, he repeatedly referred to the old television commercial featuring Conrad Jarvis selling Classical favorites: "The Polovtsian Dance Number 8, by Borodin." Also during this set, he asked for a request; when someone shouted out "Mickey Katz!", Byron replied that he had officially retired Mickey Katz, that there were too many people now pimping that music, and he didn't pimp it anymore.

A highlight of the Bug Music was a hyperactive version of Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse." This is a fast tune on the album (as it is in the cartoons) but they kicked it up into Warp Drive 10, and just barely survived. I think they reached the physical limits of their instruments' mechanics. I felt out of breath just listening to that two-minute, if it lasted that long, rush.

I should also mention that the intermission featured free fruit juice, cookies, and various cheeses to go with the free music. One of the benefits included in going to a $30,000 per-year school (or of living in the neighborhood of one.)