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Donald Byrd
Trumpeter Donald Byrd was born in Detroit in 1932, his studies at Wayne State University (1954) were interrupted by military service, during which he played in an Air Force band. He then attended the Manhattan School of Music (MA in music education). At the same time he was the favorite studio trumpeter of the bop label Presitge (1956-58), though he also recorded frequently for Riverside and Blue Note.
He gave performances with George Wallington (1955), Art Blakey (1956), and along with Gigi Gryce was a member of the Jazz Lab Quintet (1957). He also performed with Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, and others, before settling into a partnership with Pepper Adams (1958-61). After studying composition in Europe (1963-63) Byrd began a career in black music education, teaching at Rutgers, the Hampton Institute, Howard University, and (after receiving a law degree, 1976) North Carolina Central University; in 1982 he was awarded a doctorate by Columbia Teachers College.
Following the death of Clifford Brown in 1956, Byrd was for a few years arguably the finest hard-bop trumpeter. He had not only a masterful technique, displayed on all his albums from this period, but also a beautiful tone. He resumed playing in the 1970s and made several pleasant recordings in a jazz-rock style. His best-selling album Black Byrd led to the formation of his students into the Blackbyrds, a hit group of the mid-1970s.
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Donald Byrd: Live: Cookin' With Blue Note at Montreux
by Stefano Merighi
Nelle note di copertina, Don Was, presidente della Blue Note, celebra questa pubblicazione inedita del concerto di Montreux di Donald Byrd del 1973 con toni di grande rispetto ed entusiasmo. E il trombettista (scomparso nel 2013) se lo merita, sia per un certo distacco critico che ne ha sempre contraddistinto l'opera, sia per il ruolo di scouter ed educatore che Byrd ha giocato in quegli anni, quando molti jazzmen hanno preferito trasformare un linguaggio ancora legato ai fasti dell'hard bop ...
Continue ReadingDonald Byrd: Black Byrd
by Ian Patterson
It's time to celebrate. Nearly fifty years after the event, Donald Byrd's 1973 performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival finally sees the light of day. Like many of his contemporaries, Byrd had turned to electric jazz-fusion towards the end of the '60s, and this live set bears all the hallmarks of a hard bopper who had happily assimilated the r&b, soul and funk that was de rigueur at the time. Of the six tracks, only “Black Bird," with its Sun ...
Continue ReadingDonald Byrd: The Emperor
by Chris May
"The Emperor" is the killer track on Donald Byrd's 1972 masterpiece Ethiopian Knights (Blue Note), an album which took Miles Davis' contemporaneous electric experiments, stripped them of their wannabe rockstar aspirations and reframed them with a deep funk sensibility. Byrd, tenor saxophonist Harold Land, trombonist Thurman Green, vibes player Bobby Hutcherson and others bounce off plugged-in guitarist and bassist Don Peake and Wilton Felder for 15:40 minutes of stone magic. ...
Continue ReadingDonald Byrd: Cookin' With Blue Note At Montreux
by Ian Patterson
Almost fifty years after the event, Donald Byrd's 1973 performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival finally sees the light of day. Several other artists on Blue Note's roster had performances released--in more timely manner--from the same edition of Claude Nobs festival, including Ronnie Foster, Bobbi Humphrey, Bobby Hutcherson and Marlena Shaw. In no small part, thanks for this posthumous Byrd release is due to the French-born, London-based DJ and label owner Gilles Peterson, who contacted Blue Note regarding the whereabouts ...
Continue ReadingDuo Hofmaninger / Schwarz, Charles Stepney, Jeff Parker, Donald Byrd & More New Releases
by Ludovico Granvassu
Precious archival recordings featuring unheard music by Charles Stepney, Donald Byrd and Miles Davis open this edition of Mondo Jazz featuring new and upcoming albums. The playlist is completed by the epic live album by Jeff Parker Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy, and the intriguing work of young European players. Happy listening! Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Charles Stepney “Look B4u Leap" Step on Step (International ...
Continue ReadingDonald Byrd: Donald Byrd Live: Cookin' With Blue Note at Montreux
by Peter Jones
What a treat it must have been in 1973 to attend the Montreux Jazz Festival: the featured artists that year included Dexter Gordon, McCoy Tyner, Chico Hamilton, Sam Rivers, Bobbi Humphrey, Dr John, Marlena Shaw, Bobby Hutcherson... and Donald Byrd with his Tentet, whose July 5 performance is captured on this album. It was also the year of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters (Columbia Records) album, not to mention several Blaxploitation movie soundtracks, including J.J. Johnson's for Cleopatra Jones and ...
Continue ReadingDonald Byrd: Donald Byrd Live: Cookin' With Blue Note at Montreux
by Mike Jurkovic
With the release of his chart-topping, funk-fueled Black Byrd in 1973, Donald Byrd found himself in a volatile place in jazz circles. He was being hailed as having finally stepped out of Miles Davis' considerable shadow, while simultaneously many found the album to be Byrd's selling out his bop legacy for chart success. As most defining artistic moments reveal, a little of both were true. Produced and arranged by the brothers Fonce Mizelland Larry Mizell, Black Byrd incorporated ...
Continue ReadingPerfection: Byrd and Adams — Bronze Dance, 1959
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Trumpeter Donald Byrd and baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams recorded eight albums together between 1959 and 1970. Their combined sound was a perfect fit—Byrd's sweetly piercing trumpet and Adams's grunting attack on the baritone. Their first album together was Byrd in Hand, recorded in May 1959 for Blue Note. The lineup was stunning: Donald Byrd (tp), Charlie Rouse (ts), Pepper Adams (bar), Walter Davis, Jr. (p), Sam Jones (b) and Art Taylor (d). Each musician added a different level of artistic ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Donald Byrd
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Donald Byrd's birthday today!
Trumpeter Donald Byrd was born in Detroit in 1932, his studies at Wayne State University (1954) were interrupted by military service, during which he played in an Air Force band. He then attended the Manhattan School of Music (MA in music education). At the same time he was the favorite studio trumpeter of the bop label Presitge (1956-58), though he also recorded frequently for Riverside and Blue Note. He gave performances ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Donald Byrd
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Donald Byrd's birthday today!
Trumpeter Donald Byrd was born in Detroit in 1932, his studies at Wayne State University (1954) were interrupted by military service, during which he played in an Air Force band. He then attended the Manhattan School of Music (MA in music education). At the same time he was the favorite studio trumpeter of the bop label Presitge (1956-58), though he also recorded frequently for Riverside and Blue Note. He gave performances ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Donald Byrd
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Donald Byrd's birthday today!
Trumpeter Donald Byrd was born in Detroit in 1932, his studies at Wayne State University (1954) were interrupted by military service, during which he played in an Air Force band. He then attended the Manhattan School of Music (MA in music education). At the same time he was the favorite studio trumpeter of the bop label Presitge (1956-58), though he also recorded frequently for Riverside and Blue Note. He gave performances ...
read more
Barney Wilen and Donald Byrd
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
In the summer of 1958, the Donald Byrd Quintet arrived in Paris to play at the Au Chat Qui Peche, a Left Bank jazz club. Also that summer, French saxophonist Barney Wilen was approached by film producer Sandro Bocola, who had an idea. In December 1957, Wilen had recorded with Miles Davis on the soundtrack to Elevator to the Gallows. Bocola wanted to make Jazz in Camera, an avant-garde film that would be an updating of Gjon Mili's Jammin' the ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Donald Byrd
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Donald Byrd's birthday today!
Trumpeter Donald Byrd was born in Detroit in 1932, his studies at Wayne State University (1954) were interrupted by military service, during which he played in an Air Force band. He then attended the Manhattan School of Music (MA in music education). At the same time he was the favorite studio trumpeter of the bop label Presitge (1956-58), though he also recorded frequently for Riverside and Blue Note... Read more.
Place ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Donald Byrd
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Donald Byrd's birthday today!
Trumpeter Donald Byrd was born in Detroit in 1932, his studies at Wayne State University (1954) were interrupted by military service, during which he played in an Air Force band. He then attended the Manhattan School of Music (MA in music education). At the same time he was the favorite studio trumpeter of the bop label Presitge (1956-58), though he also recorded frequently for Riverside and Blue Note... Read more.
Place ...
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Donald Byrd: Byrd's Word
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Blue Note's art direction in the early 1950s was so compelling and future forward that we often forget that Savoy also recorded a significant number of knockout albums during this period. Donald Byrd's By rd's Word is a prime example. Recorded for Savoy in September 1955 and produced by Ozzie Cadena, the album featured a killer quintet—Donald Byrd (tp), Frank Foster (ts), Hank Jones (p), Paul Chambers (b) and Kenny Clarke (d). The album was Byrd's second album as a ...
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Donald Byrd: Fancy Free
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Mention the 1970s to jazz fans and many will think of the jazz-rock fusion movement. Bands then that united jazz and the rock guitar and other electric instruments included Tony Williams Lifetime, Chick Corea ad Return to Forever, Miles Davis, Weather Report, Larry Coryell's Eleventh House and the Mahavishnu Orchestra to name just a few. But fusion wasn't the only jazz-hybrid movement emerging in the post-Woodstock '70s. Another jazz genre took its cues from the Stax label under the direction ...
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Donald Byrd: Fuego
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Trumpeter Donald Byrd first came to New York from Detroit in 1955, when he was 22. While studying for a master's degree at the Manhattan School of Music, Byrd played in pianist George Wallington's quintet at the Cafe Bohemia. In the late 1950s, Byrd recorded five hard-bop albums with alto saxophonist Gigi Gryce before signing with Blue Note in 1958. The label wisely paired Byrd with baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams for a series of high-energy albums, most notably Off to ...
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