Donald Byrd 1932 - 2013

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Obit

sad news Byrd was a good jazzman who made incredibly good commercial funk recordings, one of my major guilty pleasures ...

[amateur51]

Sad news indeed but what can his nephew mean by "this unnecessary shroud of secrecy placed over his death by certain members of his immediate family. " ?

However his nephew's final tribute seems truly fitting ...

"Let's remember Donald as a one of a kind pioneer of the trumpet, of the many styles of music he took on, of music education. In sum, Donald was an avid, eternal student of music, until his death. That's what I try to be, everyday!! Rest in peace, uncle!"

Many thanks for this, Calum

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

On his day...and there were a GREAT many of those lest we forget, pre funk...a very fine player in the style of Kenny Dorham.

BN.

Ckout Fuego or Vertigo for some tres excellent Dr. Byrd. Along with Jackie Mac, a off and on partner...the relationship Jackie often laughed at, "Donald said he discovered me in a cotton field."

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Re the family. From posting on the old Bluenote website, I think there were "problems",

BN.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Fuego is built around the changes of "Out of thïs World". Not sure if Donald got there first, before Trane, but he makes a wonderful job of it.

BN.

[Tenor Freak]

I read this earlier, at work. I know nothing of his funk period but his hard bop work is excellent.

Plus, he had a shed-load of degrees from various reputable higher ed. institutions. "Life long learning" doesn't begin to cover it.

I have a (not-much played now) reissue of A New Perspective - definitely one of the coolest LP covers E V A A H....stilll want a pair of those driving gloves

I remember hearing a spoof advert he did for one of his 70s LPs on teh radio...t'would be nice to hear that again.

RIP Donald Byrd.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Ckout "Slow Drag" for some slow pre electric minimal funk, Sonny Red, Cedar Walton...and Billy Higgins ..."singing".

Itz on Utube.

BN.

[Ian Thumwood]

I've never really been able to understand Donald Byrd. For starters, how do you deal with a musician who first recorded with Charlei Parker and then gravitated towards funk in the 1970's? The albums he cut for Blue Note are probably amongst the most generic made for that label with the exception of the very original album cut with the choir. What little I have heard him play from this period seems to hve been unfairly under-rated by both fans and critics alike. He had probably the sweetest tone of all the trumpet playing Blue Note artists which is probably a bit at odds with the the fuller sound produced by the more adventurous Freddie Hubbard or the zippier approach of Lee Morgan. For me, these two musicians were probably the most interesting trumpeters on the label at the time yet although I don't have any DB records in my collection, what I have heard suggests he deserves far more credit than he got. I would also suggest that his contribution to jazz education should not be over-looked.

[Byas'd Opinion]

I've always found what I've heard of Byrd's output very hit and miss. A lot of the time he could sound very proficient without having anything much to say. On his day, though, he was excellent.

If you want to hear him at his best, I'd suggest checking out "The Cat Walk" (on Blue Note), which is joyous upbeat hard bop with a splendid swagger and joie de vivre to it. It also has very fine contributions from Pepper Adams (one of Byrd's regular musical partners of the time), Duke Pearson (who wrote about half the tunes on it) and above all a cooking Philly Joe Jones. The bass player's someone pretty obscure - I can't remember his name off hand. Maybe it is a bit generic, as Ian suggests, but if so, it's one of the masterpieces of the genre.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

The bassist was Laymon Jackson. I agree about Philly Joe, he makes that record, like so many others.

BN.

Art Taylor later said he owed a lot of his extensive session career to Philly Joe...Joe so often wouldn't turn up!