Donald Byrd

Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II (December 9, 1932 – February 4, 2013) was an American jazz and rhythm & blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd was known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while remaining a jazz artist. As a bandleader, Byrd was an influence on the early career of Herbie Hancock.

Biography

Early life and career

Byrd attended Cass Technical High School. He performed with Lionel Hampton before finishing high school. After playing in a military band during a term in the United States Air Force, Byrd obtained a bachelor's degree in music from Wayne State University and a master's degree from Manhattan School of Music. While still at the Manhattan School, he joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, as the successor to Clifford Brown. In 1955, he recorded with Gigi Gryce, Jackie McLean and Mal Waldron. After leaving the Jazz Messengers in 1956, he performed with many leading jazz musicians of the day, including John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, and later Herbie Hancock.

Byrd's first regular group was a quintet that he co-led from 1958 to 1961 with baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams, an ensemble whose hard-driving performances are captured "live" on At the Half Note Cafe.

Byrd's 1961 LP Royal Flush marked the Blue Note debut of Hancock, who came to further attention with Byrd's successful 1962 album Free Form, and these albums also featured the first recordings of Hancock's original compositions. Hancock has credited Byrd as a key influence in his early career, recounting that he took the young pianist "under his wings" when he was a struggling musician newly arrived in New York, even letting him sleep on a hide-a-bed in his Bronx apartment for several years

He was the first person to let me be a permanent member of an internationally known band. He has always nurtured and encouraged young musicians. He's a born educator, it seems to be in his blood, and he really tried to encourage the development of creativity.

Hancock also recalled that Byrd helped him in many other ways: he encouraged Hancock to make his debut album for Blue Note, connected him with Mongo Santamaria, who turned Hancock's tune "Watermelon Man" into a chart-topping hit, and that Byrd also later urged him to accept Miles Davis' offer to join his quintet.

Hancock also credits Byrd with giving him one of the most important pieces of advice of his career – not to give away his publishing rights. When Blue Note offered Hancock the chance to record his first solo LP, label executives tried to convince him to relinquish his publishing in exchange for being able to record the album, but he stuck to Byrd's advice and refused, so the meeting came to an impasse. At this point, he stood up to leave and when it became clear that he was about to walk out, the executives relented and allowed him to retain his publishing. Thanks to Santamaria's subsequent hit cover version of "Watermelon Man", Hancock was soon receiving substantial royalties, and he used his first royalty check of $3,000 to buy his first car, a 1963 Shelby Cobra (also recommended by Byrd) which Hancock still owns, and which is now the oldest production Cobra still in its original owner's hands.

In June 1964, Byrd played with Eric Dolphy in Paris just two weeks before Dolphy died from insulin shock.

Electric Byrd

By 1969's Fancy Free, Byrd was moving away from the hard bop jazz idiom and began to record jazz fusion and rhythm and blues. He teamed up with the Mizell Brothers (producer-writers Larry and Fonce) for Black Byrd (1973) which was, for many years, Blue Note's best-selling album. The title track climbed to No. 19 on Billboard′s R&B chart and reached the Hot 100 pop chart, peaking at No. 88. The Mizell brothers' follow-up albums for Byrd, Street Lady, Places and Spaces and Stepping into Tomorrow, were also big sellers, and have subsequently provided a rich source of samples for acid jazz artists such as Us3. Most of the material for the albums was written by Larry Mizell.

In 1973, he helped to establish and co-produce the Blackbyrds, a fusion group consisting of then-student musicians from Howard University, where Byrd taught in the music department and earned his J.D. in 1976. They scored several major hits including "Happy Music" (No. 3 R&B, No. 19 pop), "Walking in Rhythm" (No. 4 R&B, No. 6 pop) and "Rock Creek Park".

During his tenure at North Carolina Central University during the 1980s, he formed a group which included students from the college called the "125th St NYC Band". They recorded the Love Byrd album, which featured Isaac Hayes on drums. "Love Has Come Around" became a disco hit in the UK and reached No. 41 on the charts.

Beginning in the 1960s, Byrd (who eventually gained his PhD in music education from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1982) taught at a variety of postsecondary institutions, including Rutgers University, the Hampton Institute, New York University, Howard University, Queens College, Oberlin College, Cornell University, North Carolina Central University and Delaware State University. Byrd returned to somewhat straight-ahead jazz later in his career, releasing three albums for Orrin Keepnews' Landmark Records.

Byrd was a resident of Teaneck, New Jersey. He died on February 4, 2013 in Dover, Delaware. He was 80.

Discography

As leader

• Byrd Jazz (Transition, 1955) – also released as First Flight (Delmark)
• Byrd's Word (Savoy, 1955) re-issued as Long Green (Savoy Jazz 1975)
• Byrd's Eye View (Transition, 1955)
• Byrd Blows on Beacon Hill (Transition, 1956)
• 2 Trumpets (Prestige, 1956) – with Art Farmer and Jackie McLean
• The Young Bloods (Prestige, 1956) – with Phil Woods
• At Newport (Verve, 1957) – with Gigi Gryce (other side of album by Cecil Taylor)
• Jazz Eyes (Regent, 1957) – Collaborative album with John Jenkins and Curtis Fuller. Reissued as Byrd's Star Eyes (Savoy Jazz 1978)
• Jazz Lab (Columbia, 1957) – with Gigi Gryce
• Modern Jazz Perspective (Columbia, 1957) – with Gigi Gryce and Jackie Paris
• New Formulas from the Jazz Lab (Vik, 1957) with Gigi Gryce
• Jazz in Camera (Sonorama, 1958) with Barney Wilen
• Jazz Lab (Jubilee, 1958) with Gigi Gryce
• Live Au Chat Qui Peche (Fresh Sound, 1958)
• Jazz in Paris: Parisian Thoroughfare (Gitanes, 1958)
• Jazz in Paris: Byrd in Paris (Gitanes, 1958)
• Off to the Races (Blue Note, 1959)
• Byrd in Hand (Blue Note, 1959)
• Fuego (Blue Note, 1959)
• At the Half Note Cafe (Blue Note, 1960)
• Byrd in Flight (Blue Note, 1960)
• Chant (Blue Note, 1961)
• Motor City Scene (Bethlehem, 1960)
• The Cat Walk (Blue Note, 1961)
• Out of This World (Warwick, 1961)
• Royal Flush (Blue Note, 1961)
• Free Form (Blue Note, 1961)
• A New Perspective (Blue Note, 1963)
• I'm Tryin' to Get Home (Blue Note, 1964)
• Up with Donald Byrd (Verve, 1964)
• Mustang (Blue Note, 1966)
• Blackjack (Blue Note, 1967)
• Slow Drag (Blue Note, 1967)
• The Creeper (Blue Note, 1967)
• Fancy Free (Blue Note, 1969)
• Electric Byrd (Blue Note, 1969–70)
• Kofi (Blue Note, 1969)
• Ethiopian Knights (Blue Note, 1971)
• Black Byrd (Blue Note, 1973)
• Street Lady (Blue Note, 1973)
• Stepping into Tomorrow (Blue Note, 1974)
• Places and Spaces (Blue Note, 1975)
• Caricatures (Blue Note, 1976)
• Thank You...For F.U.M.L. (Funking Up My Life) (Elektra, 1978)
• Donald Byrd and 125th Street, N.Y.C. (Elektra, 1979)
• Love Byrd (Elektra, 1981)
• September Afternoon (Discovery, 1982; rec. 1957) – with Clare Fischer and Strings
• Words, Sounds, Colors and Shapes (Elektra, 1983)
• Harlem Blues (Landmark Records, 1987)
• Getting Down to Business (Landmark, 1989)
• A City Called Heaven (Landmark, 1991)
• Touchstone (2000; rec. 1961) Pepper Adams, Herbie Hancock, Teddy Charles, Jimmy Cobb

Compilations

• The Transition Sessions (2002 compilation of the 1955–56 recordings)

As sideman

With Pepper Adams

• 1958 10 to 4 at the 5 Spot (Riverside)

With Cannonball Adderley

• 1955 Discoveries

With Manny Albam/Teo Macero

• 1959 Something New, Something Blue

With Gene Ammons

• 1956 Jammin' with Gene (Prestige)

With Art Blakey

• 1956 The Jazz Messengers (Columbia)
• 1956 Originally
• 1957 Art Blakey Big Band (Bethlehem)
• 1958 Holiday for Skins (Blue Note)

With Kenny Burrell

• 1956 All Night Long (Prestige)
• 1957 All Day Long (Prestige)
• 1957 2 Guitars (Prestige)

With Paul Chambers

• 1956 Whims of Chambers (Blue Note)
• 1957 Paul Chambers Quintet (Blue Note)

With Sonny Clark

• 1957 Sonny's Crib (Blue Note)
• 1959 My Conception (Blue Note)

With Kenny Clarke

• 1955 Bohemia After Dark (Savoy)
• 1956 Klook's Clique (Savoy)

With John Coltrane

• 1958 Lush Life (Prestige)
• 1958 The Believer (Prestige)
• 1958 The Last Trane (Prestige)
• 1958 Black Pearls (Prestige)

With Chris Connor

• 1959 Ballads of the Sad Cafe

With Walter Davis Jr.

• 1959 Davis Cup (Blue Note)

With Eric Dolphy

• 1964 Naima
• 1964 Last Recordings / Unrealized Tapes

With Lou Donaldson

• 1957 Wailing With Lou (Blue Note)
• 1957 Lou Takes Off (Blue Note)

With Kenny Drew

• 1957 This Is New (Riverside)

With Art Farmer

• 1957 Art Farmer/Donald Byrd/Idrees Sulieman – Three Trumpets (Prestige)

With Red Garland

• 1957 All Mornin' Long (Prestige)
• 1957 Soul Junction (Prestige)
• 1957 High Pressure (Prestige)

With Dexter Gordon

• 1964 One Flight Up (Blue Note)
• 1965 Ladybird (SteepleChase)

With Al Grey

• 1962: Snap Your Fingers (Argo)

With Johnny Griffin

• 1958 Johnny Griffin Sextet (Riverside)

With Gigi Gryce

• 1957 Jazz Lab (Jubilee)
• 1957 Gigi Gryce and the Jazz Lab Quintet (Riverside)
• 1957 At Newport (Verve)
• 1957 Modern Jazz Perspective (Columbia)
• 1957 New Formulas from the Jazz Lab (Vik)

With Guru

• 1993 Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1
• 1995 Guru's Jazzmatazz, Vol. 2: The New Reality

With Herbie Hancock

• 1963 My Point of View (Blue Note)

With Gene Harris

• 1977 Tone Tantrum

With Jimmy Heath

• 1963 Swamp Seed (Riverside)

With Elmo Hope

• 1956 Informal Jazz (Prestige, 1956)

With Solomon Ilori

• 1964 African High Life

With Ahmad Jamal

• 1995 Big Byrd: The Essence Part 2

With Hank Jones

• 1955 Quartet-Quintet (Savoy)
• 1955 Bluebird (Savoy)

With Michel Legrand

• 1958 Legrand Jazz

With Mundell Lowe

• 1959 TV Action Jazz!

With Jackie McLean

• 1955 Presenting Jackie McLean (Ad Lib) (Jubilee 1958)
• 1956 Lights Out! (Prestige)
• 1956 4, 5 and 6 (Prestige)
• 1959 New Soil (Blue Note)
• 1959 Jackie's Bag 3 tracks (Blue Note)
• 1963 Vertigo - released 1980 (Blue Note)

With Hank Mobley

• 1956 The Jazz Message of Hank Mobley (Prestige)
• 1956 Mobley's Message (Prestige)
• 1956 Jazz Message No. 2 (Savoy)
• 1956 Hank Mobley Sextet (Blue Note)
• 1957 Hank (Blue Note)
• 1963 No Room for Squares (Blue Note)
• 1963 Straight No Filter – released 1986 (Blue Note)
• 1963 The Turnaround! (Blue Note)
• 1967 Far Away Lands (Blue Note)

With Thelonious Monk

• 1959 The Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall (Riverside)

With Wes Montgomery

• 1965 Goin' Out of My Head

With Duke Pearson

• 1962 Hush! (Jazztime)
• 1964 Wahoo! (Blue Note)

With Oscar Pettiford

• 1955 Another One
• 1957 Winner's Circle

With Dizzy Reece

• 1958 Blues in Trinity (Blue Note)

With Rita Reys and The Jazz Messengers

• 1956 The Cool Voice of Rita Reys

With Sam Rivers

• 1967 Dimensions & Extensions

With Sonny Rollins

• 1956 Sonny Rollins, Volume 1 (Blue Note)
• 1978 Don't Stop the Carnival (Milestone)

With Horace Silver

• 1956 Silver's Blue (Epic)
• 1956 6 Pieces of Silver (Blue Note)

With Jimmy Smith

• 1957 A Date with Jimmy Smith Volume One (Blue Note)
• 1957 A Date with Jimmy Smith Volume Two (Blue Note)

With Art Taylor

• 1957 Taylor's Wailers (Prestige)

With Jim Timmens

• 1958 Gilbert and Sullivan Revisited

With Cal Tjader

• 1964 Soul Sauce (Verve)

With Stanley Turrentine

• 1967 A Bluish Bag

With George Wallington

• 1955 Live at the Bohemia (Progressive, 1955; Prestige, 1970)
• 1956 Jazz for the Carriage Trade (Prestige)
• 1957 The New York Scene (Prestige)
• 1957 Jazz at Hotchkiss (Savoy)

With Doug Watkins

• 1956 Watkins at Large (Transition)

With Ernie Wilkins

• 1955 Top Brass (Savoy)

With Phil Woods

• 1956 Pairing Off (Prestige)