Trumpeter Donald Byrd's Underrated Legacy

Since I became a fan of modern jazz back in the mid-90's, and have now spent nearly 20 years listening and loving the various styles within the genre.

 It has become obvious to me that Donald Byrd (1932-2013) was one of the most underrated musicians in Jazz History.

You never hear him being mentioned with other trumpet contemporaries like Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, or even Woody Shaw as an innovator on his instrument.

I always thought he sounded like a combo of Miles and Lee Morgan, I definitely hear a Miles influence in his trumpet tone, but never once do I feel it's mimicry.

Donald's albums are usually just high quality rock steady music, no matter the genre. So maybe he didn't alienate the jazz establishment enough like Miles did to get that innovator label. Donald Byrd just cranked out great album after album.

My all-time favorite composition ever penned for Blue Note is "Tanya", a sultry slow boiled strutter  that somehow never wears out it's welcome for 17 minutes.

The aforementioned "Tanya," is from Dexter Gordon's Blue Note album One Flight Up and is the quintessential hard-bop anthem in my mind, rivaling Coltranes' Blue Train, Bobby Timmons' Moanin' and Sonny Clark's "Cool Struttin" for the anthem title.

I just love "Tanya", she must have been one mighty special lady indeed.

I like how Donald was a  nurturer of younger talent too, unheralded as Byrd might be, Blakey usually comes to mind more in that capacity; Byrd was the one who told Herbie Hancock how to keep his publishing rights, and how not to get ripped off in that regard.

Byrd also told Hancock that When Miles Davis comes a calling, YOU GO!

Even though Herbie was in the piano chair for Byrd at the time, he emphatically told Herbie, "When Miles Calls you, tell him, you ain't workin' with nobody".

I like the pictured Off to the Races quite a bit, most would consider this a run of the mill blowing session. It would be, if not for Byrd's underrated trumpet and Jackie McLean's piss and vinegar tone on alto.

Also, Wynton Kelly's blues to the max piano always works well in a setting like this. He's another underrated musician, most people overlook Wynton on Miles Davis' Kind of Blue and his work on"Freddie Freeloader" too.

Most of Donald's Hard-bop Blue Notes are worth checking out,  Chant, Royal Flush, Byrd in Hand, Free Form, the 2 volume live at the Half Note are fantastic.

A few underrated gems like Fancy Free and Kofi are worth a spin. My favorite of the fusion albums is Electric Byrd

Many will not savor the jazz funk stylings of Donald, especially the stuff with the Mizell brothers. Black Byrd and Street Lady are very nice records with not too much of the over commercializing that many rail against.

I happen to like the Mizell brothers stuff, I like funk and r&b, and I don't get bent out of shape when artists like Donald sweeten up their sound to earn a dollar. Funny how hindsight is 20/20 though, with the drivel being passed off as music today, some of that sugar sweet jazz funk is infinitely more interesting to me today.
 

All LP cover photos are my own.

Underrated Saxophonist Sam Rivers: Start Listening Where He Started as a Leader, on Blue Note

The Late Sam Rivers (1923-2011) might have been the most underrated saxophone player in the history of jazz. Certainly Rivers is right up there with guys like Steve Marcus and Joe Farrell for being slighted.

Rivers though, with a career that spanned 60 years seems particularly overlooked.

The pictured Fuchsia Swing Song was Sam's first record as a leader, he was 41 years of age at the time of it's release. John Coltrane was dead at age 40, Sam was a late bloomer for sure.

Sam almost became a household name when in 1964, at the urging of drummer Tony Williams, he joined the Miles Davis Quintet.

That document is on the Miles Davis album Live in Tokyo. Miles reportedly thought Sam was too avant-garde, so in the end, it wasn't a great fit, but of course it's hard to imagine "The Quintet" without Wayne Shorter in the Saxophonist's chair. Sam though, is sort of a thinking jazz fans favorite.

I mean, if you really like modern jazz, and dig deep into the avant-garde or at least post bop, you will find your way to Sam.

For me, the pictured LP and the album Contours on Blue Note do the most for me, I just love that "not too far outside" Blue Note sound circa 1965.

Those albums work so well,  Alfred Lion must have kept the reigns pretty tight as to not to fly off the track completely. To Lion's credit though, he let these guys really experiment quite a bit... see Eric Dolphy's masterpiece Out to Lunch, or any of the Jackie McLean sessions from the mid-60's.

The standard from Fuchsia Swing Song is "Beatrice". A song named after Sam's wife, and a real important post bop track and real winner to my ears. The best way to describe the album as a whole is, think Post Bop light, if the avant-garde scares you, Fuchsia is the one to get and then check out Contours.

If you end up liking the Blue Notes, do include Inventions and Dementions on the play list as well. The 70's stuff like Crystals, Waves, and Streams, might be to out there for you. His Rivbea Orchestra is what he was most known for up until his death at age 88.

The big band recordings are a real thrill, much in the style of 1974's Impulse Records release Crystals. These are all out progressive big band blow outs, that remind me of an amalgam of Stan Kenton, Charles Mingus, and Sun Ra's big bands, and lot of other stuff thrown in.  Do Start with the Blue Notes though if you have a taste for Sam Rivers.