Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd
II (born December 9, 1932) is an American
jazz and rhythm and
blues trumpeter.
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,
Oberlin
College
and Delaware
State University,. 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".
In September, 2009 he was named an artist-in-residence at Delaware
State University.
Byrd lives
in Teaneck, New
Jersey
.
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
References
External links
Wikis
Quiz
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