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High Times
Joined: 25 Oct 2004
Posts: 744
Location: music written by JK/Toby Smith
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 Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 06:04 |
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DONALD BYRD
hi guys
i am big fan of Donald Byrd and decided
to make athread about him.
Toby Smith, jamiroquai ex keyboardist, in one of his his interviews said:
| Quote: |
Who are your main musical influences?
Toby: Herbie Hancock (Manchild, Secrets) Marvin Gaye (I Want You, In Our Lifetime, Here My Dear) P Funk (1976-1983) Donald Bird (Places & Spaces) |
in other interview Toby said:
| Quote: |
| "We're definitely not a part of the Britpop thing," assures Toby Smith, keyboard player and one half of the Jamiroquai writing partnership. "We do pretty much American black music. All the artists we listen to are black Americans: Roy Ayers, Herbie Hancock, Marvin Gaye, Donald Byrd, that sort of genre." |
Jay Kay said about Donald Byrd:
| Quote: |
| You don't know this? Fuck, man! Fuck! (paces around and mimes punching the interviewer). Donald Byrd is another one of these people, like Johnny Hammond, Roy Ayers... it's jazz in an understandable form. It has suck freedom, unusual arrangements, really funky changes, and it moves along. That's what I like, music that rolls along. To do music with that tempo and make it boogieable, it's about where they haven't played notees - the spaces. That's what they're masters of. They're masters of the groove. |
SO EVERYBODY, FIRST LISTEN TO THIS
Lansana's Priestess
http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/clipserve/B000005H7J001001/0/ref=mu_sam_wma_001_001/002-7530340-3639231
Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II (born December 9, 1932) is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter, born in Detroit, Michigan. 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. While still at the Manhattan School he joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, replacing Clifford Brown. After leaving the Jazz Messengers in 1956 he performed with a wide variety of highly regarded jazz musicians.
In the 1970s, he moved away from his previous hard-bop jazz base and began to record jazz fusion and rhythm and blues. Teaming up with the Mizell Brothers, he produced Black Byrd, which was enormously successful and became Blue Note Records' highest-ever selling album. The follow-up albums, Places and Spaces, Steppin' Into Tomorrow and Street Lady were also big sellers, and have subsequently provided a rich source of samples for hip-hop artists such as Us3.
He has taught music at Rutgers University, the Hampton Institute, New York University, Howard University, and Oberlin College. In 1974 he created the Blackbyrds, a fusion group consisting of his best students. They scored several major hits, including "Walking In Rhythm" and "Blackbyrds Theme".
Donald Byrd was considered one of the finest hard bop trumpeters of the post-Clifford Brown era. He recorded prolifically as both a leader and sideman from the mid-'50s into the mid-'60s, most often for Blue Note, where he established a reputation as a solid stylist with a clean tone, clear articulation, and a knack for melodicism. Toward the end of the '60s, Byrd became fascinated with Miles Davis' move into fusion, and started recording his own forays into the field. In the early '70s, Byrd perfected a bright, breezy, commercially potent take on fusion that was distinct from Davis, incorporating tighter arrangements and more of a smooth soul influence. Opinions on this phase of Byrd's career diverge wildly jazz purists utterly despised it, branding Byrd a sellout and the records a betrayal of talent, but enraptured jazz-funk fans regard it as some of the most innovative, enduring work of its kind. In fact, proportionately speaking, Byrd is held in even higher esteem by that audience than by straight-ahead jazz fans who enjoy his hard bop output.
Byrd truly came into his own as a fusion artist when he hooked up with brothers Larry and Fonce Mizell, who began to handle production, writing, and some musical support duties. Their first collaboration was 1972's Black Byrd, an upbeat, funky blend of jazz and R&B. Jazz critics detested the album and called Byrd all sorts of names, but the record was a smash hit; it became the biggest seller in Blue Note history, and just missed hitting number one on the R&B albums chart. In the wake of its success, Byrd formed a supporting group, the Blackbyrds, who were culled from the cream of his music students at Howard University and recorded through the rest of the '70s. Byrd went on to release a string of successful LPs in partnership with the Mizell Brothers, including the imaginary blaxploitation soundtrack Street Lady (1974), Stepping into Tomorrow (1975), the much-lauded Places and Spaces (1976), and Caricatures (1977).
All made the Top Ten on the R&B album charts, and the Places and Spaces single "Change (Makes You Wanna Hustle)" even got substantial play in discotheques. Jazz-funk fans revere this period in general, but usually reserve their highest praise for Street Lady and, especially, Places and Spaces. As a side note to his musical career, Byrd finished law school in 1976, and went on to teach at North Carolina Central University.
Following Caricatures, Byrd parted ways with Blue Note and the Mizell Brothers and moved to Elektra. He recorded several albums over 1978-1983, but even the most commercially successful, 1978's Thank You...for F.U.M.L. (Funking up My Life), didn't match the infectiousness of his Blue Note jazz-funk outings. In 1982, Byrd received his Ph.D. from Columbia Teachers College. He spent a few years in the mid-'80s away from recording, due in part to ill health, but continued to teach, moving on to North Texas State and Delaware State. In the late '80s and early '90s, Byrd returned to the hard bop of his early days on several sessions for the Landmark label. He participated in rapper Guru's Jazzmatazz project in 1993, and with the advent of the jazz-rap movement and England's acid jazz revival, his '70s albums became hugely popular sources for samples. In the meantime, Byrd continued his activities as a jazz educator.
Places And Spaces
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/music/clipserve/B000005H7S001004/1/ref=mu_sam_ra001_004/026-6002113-4466018
KOFI
http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/clipserve/B000005H7J001001/0/ref=mu_sam_wma_001_001/002-7530340-3639231
YOU AND THE MUSIC
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/music/clipserve/B000005H7S001005/1/ref=mu_sam_ra001_005/026-6002113-4466018
myspace donald byrd pages:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=68666060
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=80017302
mizell brothers myspace page
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=97877793 |
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anya korjik
Joined: 03 Jul 2005
Posts: 217
Location: Russia,MosQuai
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| Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 16:02 |
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Thanks for this Donald byrd's infos!!!!!!! 
This is fantastic musician!!!!
My favorite album is Stepping Into Tomorrow////and///by the way////
Do u listen Madlib's @Shades of Blue?this album uncludes samples&Moods of Byrd's music 
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High Times
Joined: 25 Oct 2004
Posts: 744
Location: music written by JK/Toby Smith
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| Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 17:39 |
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do you have any other records produced by mizzell brothers?
i'd like to have them, they're very cool |
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anya korjik
Joined: 03 Jul 2005
Posts: 217
Location: Russia,MosQuai
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| Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 19:57 |
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| High Times wrote: |
do you have any other records produced by mizzell brothers?
i'd like to have them, they're very cool |
Unfortunately I yet did not hear this project.... But I shall try to find them!buy their cds...
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Last edited by anya korjik on Sat Sep 23, 2006 20:11; edited 1 time in total |
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FunkEducation
Joined: 15 Jul 2004
Posts: 3309
Location: Maracay, Venezuela
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| Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 20:05 |
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Re: DONALD BYRD
| High Times wrote: |
Jay Kay said about Donald Byrd:
| Quote: |
| You don't know this? Fuck, man! Fuck! (paces around and mimes punching the interviewer). Donald Byrd is another one of these people, like Johnny Hammond, Roy Ayers... it's jazz in an understandable form. It has suck freedom, unusual arrangements, really funky changes, and it moves along. That's what I like, music that rolls along. To do music with that tempo and make it boogieable, it's about where they haven't played notees - the spaces. That's what they're masters of. They're masters of the groove. |
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Jay must read that actually!
amazing thread Jonas!
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This is FunkEducation, supporting the 1992-1998 Jamiroquai!!
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