In 1980 Byard was the subject of a short documentary film, "Anything for Jazz", which featured him playing, teaching and with his family. By the 1980s his main instrument remained the piano, and he still played both alto and tenor saxophones, but he had stopped playing the other instruments that he used to use professionally – bass, drums, guitar, trombone, and trumpet, although he still taught all of them. In the same period, he was often heard in New York playing solo, in duos, or in trios. In 1988 he played with a band founded by Mingus' widow to perform the bassist's compositions – the Mingus Big Band. Byard played and recorded with a former student of his, Ricky Ford, from 1989 to 1991, and continued to play and teach during the 1990s.