Jazz Articles about Donald Byrd

The Feelin's Good

by Greg Simmons
March 31, 2013

The mists of time have a way of obscuring the motives behind people's decisions. “What were they thinking?" and “It must have seemed like a good idea at the time" must be among the most universal human sentiments. In the music business, a session gets recorded, and often it gets released, but occasionally it doesn't. Sometimes a tape sits on a shelf collecting dust for fifty years, leaving later-day musical archeologists to ponder why. Maybe that session gets cut up, ...

Donald Byrd: Slow Drag

by Greg Simmons
July 2, 2011

Donald ByrdSlow DragBlue Note2011 (1967) In 1967 trumpeter Donald Byrd was a busy guy, teaching or lecturing at no fewer than four universities. It's a wonder he had time to play, let alone record. Fortunately, he did find the time, and the resulting Slow Drag takes an honorable place in his catalog. The album features Byrd's working unit, fresh off a stint at New York's Five Spot Café. It's ...

Donald Byrd: Off To The Races

by John Barron
March 16, 2007

Donald Byrd Off To The Races Blue Note Records 2006 (1959)

Detroit was producing a lot more than cars in the 1950s: the city was a breeding ground for an impressive number of hard bop giants. Two of the most dynamic instrumentalists to trek eastward from Motown to the Big Apple were trumpeter Donald Byrd and baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams, leader and featured sideman respectively on Off To The Races.

Off To ...

Donald Byrd: Off to the Races

by AAJ Italy Staff
November 17, 2006

“Off to the Races” (1958) è il primo album registrato da Donald Byrd come leader per la Blue Note. Nei tre anni precedenti il trombettista aveva inciso moltissimo per numerose etichette ed era visto come uno dei più notevoli eredi del povero Clifford Brown. La collaborazione con la Blue Note durò fino al 1976 e fu molto fruttuosa, grazie anche alla presenza di alcuni collaboratori assai congeniali all’estro di Byrd. Parliamo di Jackie McLean e Pepper Adams, musicisti, che avevano ...

Donald Byrd: Royal Flush

by Samuel Chell
September 16, 2006

Donald Byrd Royal Flush Blue Note 2006

One of a handful of Rudy Van Gelder remasters released this past August, Royal Flush would be welcome if only because it's the recording debut of Herbie Hancock. Looking all of fourteen in the photo included with the accompanying booklet (he was 21 at the time), Hancock plays like a seasoned pro on what was, in fact, his actual “maiden voyage." Even apart from the pianist's brilliant ...

Donald Byrd Quartet featuring Bobby Jaspar: Au Chat Qui Peche 1958

by Samuel Chell
July 25, 2006

Were you to ask trumpeter Donald Byrd what moment in his career he would most like to relive, it would not be surprising if he selected the period documented on this recording. It was the late summer of 1958, and Byrd and his quartet had settled in for an extended gig, including practically carte blanche musical freedom, at a Parisian Left Bank jazz cave called Au Chat Qui Peche. On most occasions the quartet was augmented by the Belgian tenor ...

Donald Byrd: Fuego

by Russ Musto
March 12, 2006

The role played by Donald Byrd in the development of hard bop is often unfairly overlooked these days--as if the trumpeter's '70s forays into more commercial territory justifies expunging his earlier contributions from its history. Fuego, Byrd's third date for Blue Note, finds him at his very best, in the familiar company of altoist Jackie McLean, pianist Duke Pearson, bassist Doug Watkins and drummer Lex Humphries. Recorded in October 1959, the record reflects the contemporaneous influences of two of Byrd's ...