Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Winston Byrd: Once Upon a Time Right Now

7

Winston Byrd: Once Upon a Time Right Now

Winston Byrd: Once Upon a Time Right Now
"Once Upon A Time" usually prefaces a fairy tale, Aesopian fable, or, a Hollywood action movie. While no tale of witches, Princess Brides, or cigar-chomping cowboys, this recording from trumpeter Winston Byrd and his magnificent more-than-seven is an overall right now hoot.

An aural feast where Byrd is Exec Chef, the production delivers superbly-performed ass-kicking funk, cognac-smooth contemporary, and white-hot straight-ahead jazz for take-out. The sheer diversity of the material, all performed with high energy and outstanding musicianship, adds to the album's overall enjoyment. While Byrd offers this right now, he doffs his lid to the past, sending a musical salute to Ornette Coleman in a dazzling funk kick-off track ("Ramblin'). He smacks trumpeting high-fives to greats Clark Terry ("Brotherhood of Man" and "Mumbles") and Snooky Young (when plungered on "On This Night of a Thousand Stars") and to his buddy, the highly underrated trumpeter, George Rabbai who joins him on the CT fun train.

There is a superior multi-part arrangement of "On This Night of a Thousand Stars" -complete with Byrd throwing down sonorous "Cherry Pink" cha-chas and Ferguson-like scream solos. Contemporary textures get covered by way of "Grandma Jo's House," the smoother "Times" and "Brown Eyes," and "One Love, One Life," a clap-tracked, pulsating throwback. Byrd on piccolo trumpet—a brilliant choice -covers Dave Brubeck's "Blue Rondo a La Turk" with stunning virtuosity and effortlessness. Eugene Friesen's "Anne Rising" is a gorgeous, deeply reflective ballad where Byrd's lush flugelhorn kills softly. Those two tracks—highlights both -distinguish this already distinctive album and present this performer as deeply sensitive and insightful artist who has all the musical goods and plenty more.

"Right Now" seems to offer marvelously different perspectives with each listen. That's probably due to the impeccable and ingenious production values and the hip arrangements from Byrd and cohort Gio Washington-Wright. The rhythm sections throughout, especially on the funk-drivers, are world-class thumb-pluckers and fierce headhunters.

The best and most profound fairy tales provide enjoyment, insights and wisdom, thus they stick with us forever. What's delivered here may just well do the same.

Track Listing

Ramblin'; On This Night of a Thousand Stars (from "Evita"); Brotherhood of Man; Grandma Jo's House; Borrowed Time; Blue Ronda a La Turk; Anne Rising; Mumbles; Times; Brown Eyes; One Life, One Love.

Personnel

Winston Byrd: trumpet, flugelhorn (5,6,7,10), piccolo trumpet (5,6), trombone (5,10,11), bass trombone (5,11), scat vocals (8); Mahesh Balasooriya: piano (2,6); Adrian "Bobby" Battle: lead vocals (11); Les Benedict: trombone, bass trombone (2); Mike Boone: bass (3,8); Mekhi Boone: drums (3,8); Julian Coryell: guitar (9); Donzell Davis: drums (9,10); Steve Graeber: tenor saxophone (1,10), synthesizer (1); noah Hernandez: guitar (11); Gene Lake: drums and programming (5); Julian Le: keyboards/organ (1); Mychael Lomas: electric bass (9), stick bass (10); Joel Martin: strings (2); Brian O'Rourke: Fender Rhodes (4); Eric Otis: bass (4); Steve Pemberton: drums (2,6); George Rabbai: trumpet (3,8); scat vocals (8); Nick Rolfe: keyboards/synthesizers (5); Steve Rawlins: piano (7); James Santangelo: piano (3,8); David Sampson: guitar (1,2,5,10); Zacheous Theoris Taylor: guitar (11); Tayki Tsuyama: bass (1,11); Asa Watlins: drums (1,11), keyboards (11); Airreal Watkins: lead vocals (11); Ken wild: upright bass (2,6); Fritz Wise: drums (4); Ian Vo: flute, alto flute, piccolo (10), alto, tenor and baritone saxophone, flute, alto flute and piccolo (11); Mark Zier: keyboards (9,10), Hammond organ (9).

Album information

Title: Once Upon a Time Right Now | Year Released: 2016 | Record Label: Ropeadope

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

Near

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.