Home » Jazz Articles » Donald Byrd
Jazz Articles about Donald Byrd
Donald Byrd: Mustang!
by Douglas Payne
Trumpeter Donald Byrd made many worthwhile records during the sixties. Mustang, the first of four terrific Blue Note sessions Byrd made with ill-fated alto sax man Sonny Red between 1966 and 1967, is one of the great ones. Much of the success of this recording is due in no small part to Red's top-drawer participation. Pianist McCoy Tyner and under-valued tenor great Hank Mobley are exceptional throughout as well. All excel on the “Sidewinder" groove of the title cut, the ...
Continue ReadingDonald Byrd: A New Perspective
by Jim Santella
With his flair for innovation, Donald Byrd, in late 1963, put together a septet that was recorded with the Coleridge Perkinson Choir providing a capella Gospel support. Duke Pearson provided arrangements which carefully weave eight wordless voices in and out of the septet's blues-derived compositions. Byrd's father was a Methodist minister, so the trumpeter worked with Pearson at, as Byrd states in the liner notes, “approaching this tradition with respect and great pleasure." The recording, which was reissued on CD ...
Continue Reading
