Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II
(born December 9, 1932) is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter.
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DONALD BYRD TICKETS
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Biography
Early life and education
Born in
Detroit, Michigan, Byrd attended
Cass Technical High School. He performed with
Lionel Hampton before finishing high school. After playing in a military band during a term in the
United States Air Force, he obtained a bachelor's degree in music from
Wayne State University and a master's degree from
Manhattan School of Music.
Playing career
While still at the Manhattan School he joined
Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, replacing
Clifford Brown. In 1955, he recorded with
Jackie McLean and
Mal Waldron. After leaving the Jazz Messengers in 1956 he performed with a wide variety of highly regarded jazz musicians, including
John Coltrane,
Sonny Rollins,
Herbie Hancock, and
Thelonious Monk. Byrd's first full-time band was a quintet he co-led from 1958-61 with
Pepper Adams, an ensemble whose hard driving performances are captured "live" on
At The Half Note Café, Vols. 1 & 2
. In June 1964, Byrd jammed with jazz legend
Eric Dolphy in Paris just two weeks before Dolphy's death from insulin shock.
In the 1970s, he moved away from his previous
hard-bop jazz base and began to record
jazz fusion, Jazz-funk, soul-Jazz, and
rhythm and blues. Teaming up with the
Mizell Brothers, they produced
Black Byrd
, which was enormously successful and became
Blue Note Records' highest-ever selling album. The Mizell Brothers follow-up production albums for Byrd,
Places and Spaces
,
Steppin' Into Tomorrow
and
Street Lady
were also big sellers, and have subsequently provided a rich source of samples for acid jazz artists such as
Us3.
In 1993, Byrd teamed up with
Gang Starr MC
Guru for the track "Loungin'" on the
Jazzmatazz project.
As a music educator
He has taught music at
Rutgers University, the
Hampton Institute,
New York University,
Howard University,
Queens College, and
Oberlin College. In 1974 he created the
Blackbyrds, a fusion group consisting of his best students. They scored several major hits including "Rock Creek Park", "Walking In Rhythm" and "Blackbyrds Theme".
Byrd lives in
Teaneck, New Jersey.
[1]
Discography
Leader
- Off to the Races
(1958), Blue Note
- Byrd in Hand
(1959)
- Fuego
(1959)
- Byrd in Flight
(1960)
- Royal Flush
(1961)
- Free Form
(1961)
- The Cat Walk
(1962)
- Groovin' for Nat
(1962)
- A New Perspective
(1963)
- I'm Tryin' To Get Home
(1964)
- Up With Donald Byrd
(1965) Verve Records
- Mustang!
(1966)
- Slow Drag
(1967)
- Blackjack
(1967)
- Fancy Free
(1969)
- Electric Byrd
(1970)
- Ethiopian Knights
(1971)
- Black Byrd
(1972)
- Street Lady
(1973)
- Stepping into Tomorrow
(1974)
- Places and Spaces
(1975)
- Caricatures
(1976)
- Thank You...For F.U.M.L. (Funking Up My Life)
(1978)
- Donald Byrd And 125th Street, N.Y.C. (1979)
- Love Byrd: Donald Byrd and 125th St, N.Y.C.
(1981)
- Words, Sounds, Colors and Shapes
(1983)
- Harlem Blues
(1987)
- Getting Down to Business
(1989)
- A City Called Heaven
(1991)
- Touchstone
(2000)
- The Transition Sessions
(2002)
- Out of This World
(2003)
- At the Half Note Cafe, Vol. 1
(2003)
- At the Half Note Cafe, Vol. 2
(2003)
- At the Half Note Cafe, Vol. 1-2 (Bonus Tracks)
(2004)
- In a Soulful Mood
(2005)
- Pop-Jazz Volume 1
(2006)
Sideman
This list is incomplete; you can help by [ expanding it]
.
- 1956 Kenny Burrell - All Night Long
- 1956 Hank Mobley - Mobley's Message
- 1956 Horace Silver - Silver's Blue
- 1956 Paul Chambers - Whims of Chambers
- 1956 Jackie McLean - Lights Out!
- 1956 Jackie McLean - 4,5, and 6
- 1956 Phil Woods - The Young Bloods
- 1957 Kenny Drew - This is New
- 1957 Kenny Drew - Trio/Quartet/Quintet
- 1957 Gigi Gryce - Gigi Gryce and The Jazz Lab Quintet
- 1957 Art Taylor - Taylor Wailer's
- 1957 George Wallington - The New York Scene
- 1957 Sonny Clark - Sonny's Crib
- 1957 Red Garland - All Morning Long
- 1957 Red Garland - Soul Junction
- 1957 Red Garland Quintet with John Coltrane - High Pressure
- 1957 Lou Donaldson - Walking with Lou
- 1958 John Coltrane - Lush Life
- 1958 Johnny Griffin - Johnny Griffin Sextet
- 1958 Pepper Adams - 10 to 4 at the 5 Spot
- 1959 Sonny Clark - My Conception
- 1959 Jackie McLean - New Soil
- 1963 Jackie McLean - Vertigo
- 1963 Hank Mobley - No Room for Squares
- 1963 Herbie Hancock - My Point of View
- 1964 Dexter Gordon - One Flight Up
- 1986 Hank Mobley - Straight No Filter
- 1990 Kenny Burrell - All Day Long
- 1992 Kenny Burrell - 2 Guitars
References
- The State of Jazz: Meet 40 More Jersey Greats, ''The Star-Ledger'', September 28, 2004