Donald Byrd | Artist

Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd was an American jazz and rhythm & blues trumpeter and vocalist born 1932 in Detroit, Michigan. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, as well as an accomplished solo artist, Byrd was one of the few hard bop musicians who successfully explored funk and soul while remaining a jazz artist. As a bandleader, Byrd was an influence on the early career of Herbie Hancock and many others. Byrd came from the African-American middle-class family. His father was a Methodist minister and his mother introduced Byrd to jazz music. He attended Cass Technical High School and began performing with Lionel Hampton's band on trumpet before finishing high school. His first professional recording session was in 1949 at Fortune Records in Detroit with the Robert Barnes Sextette for the single "Black Eyed Peas"/"Bobbin' At Barbee's." 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 Clifford Brown's successor. 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 he co-led from 1958 to 1961 with saxophonist Pepper Adams. Byrd's 1961 LP Royal Flush was young Herbie Hancock's Blue Note debut. Hancock has credited Byrd as a key influence in his early career, recounting that Byrd took the young pianist under his wing 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. Byrd was a prolific recording artist, laying down over 40 studio albums, not including his work with The Jazz Messengers. Standout albums include Byrd in Hand (1960), A New Perspective (1964), Free Form (1966), Electric Byrd (1970), Ethiopian Knights (1972), Black Byrd (1973), Street Lady (1974), and Places and Spaces (1975). Always a great collaborator, Byrd worked with names such as Art Farmer, Gigi Grice, Dexter Gordon, Eric Dolphy and Marvin Gaye. By 1969's Fancy Free, Byrd was moving away from hard bop jazz and began to record jazz fusion and jazz-funk. He teamed up with producers the Mizell Brothers for the hugely successful Black Byrd (1973) and the follow-up albums, Street Lady, Places and Spaces, and Stepping into Tomorrow, which were also big sellers, and have subsequently provided a rich source of samples for acid jazz artists such as Us3. In 1973, Byrd helped to establish and co-produce the Blackbyrds, a fusion group consisting of student musicians from Howard University, where Byrd taught in the music department and earned his Doctorate of Law (J.D.) in 1976. He went on to teach at a variety of postsecondary institutions and eventually gained his PhD in music education from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1982. For many years Donald Byrd's 1973 album Black Byrd was Blue Note Records' best-selling album.

Artist Website: en.wikipedia/Donald_Byrd

Featured Albums: Donald Byrd

Related Artists: The Jazz Messengers