Donald Byrd

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Donald Byrd

Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II (born December 9, 1932 in Detroit , Michigan , † February 4, 2013 in Dover (Delaware) ) was an American trumpeter (occasionally also a singer) of modern jazz . He was the best-selling musician on the Blue Note label ; his 1973 jazz-funk album Black Byrd is considered the label's greatest sales success. Later he reached a new audience as a well-sampled artist through hip-hoppers like Nas , The Pharcyde and Jazzmatazz .

Live and act

Donald Byrd was the son of a Methodist minister and musician. In 1951/52 he played in an Air Force band during his military service . He then studied music education at Wayne State University until 1954 , then at the Manhattan School of Music ; In 1971 he received his PhD from the University of Colorado School of Education . With the Detroit musicians Yusef Lateef and Bernard McKinney , he recorded his debut album for Delmark in August 1955 ( First Flight ).
He has performed with George Wallington , Max Roach (1956), Art Blakey (1955, as a member of the Jazz Messengers ), Sonny Rollins , Jackie McLean , André Hodeir , Red Garland (1957), John Coltrane , Gigi Gryce (with whom he collaborated in 1957 led a formation) and Thelonious Monk , led a jazz band from 1958 to 1961 with Pepper Adams , who was also from Detroit, and went on a trip to Europe.
With the album Off to the Races in 1958 began his collaboration with the Blue Note label; his albums recorded there from the 1960s include z. B. Cat Walk (1961) and A New Perspective (1963) with the popular Christo Redentor , accompanied by a choir , which shows his closeness to gospel music. In the early 1960s he turned to soul jazz and had his own quintet, u. a with McCoy Tyner , Herbie Hancock , Butch Warren , Billy Higgins , Hank Mobley , Sonny Red , Walter Booker and Freddie Waits . He also taught at the Music and Art High School in New York in the early 1960s. In 1962 and 1963 he studied composition with Nadia Boulanger at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau . In Paris he appeared in 1964 with Dexter Gordon and also with Eric Dolphy ( Last Recordings ); In the same year he played in a big band production at the Ruhr Festival with musicians such as Albert Mangelsdorff , Rolf Kühn , Klaus Doldinger and Sahib Shihab . In 1965/66 he arranged for the Norwegian radio orchestra and around this time turned again increasingly to teaching at the Music and Art High School in New York. He also gave private lessons and clinic workshops for the National Stage Band Camps . In 1968 he studied African music during a stay in Africa.

His album Black Byrd , produced by Fonce and Larry Mizell , became a bestseller in the history of Blue Note in 1973 . After playing mostly fun-oriented music in the 1980s , he returned to jazz in the late 1980s, performing with musicians such as Joe Henderson , Bobby Hutcherson , Kenny Garrett and Mulgrew Miller . He has made more than fifty albums since the 1950s.

From 1971 to 1975 he taught at Howard University , where he was head of the Black Music Department ; In 1974 he founded the band The Blackbyrds with his students , whose successful song Walking In Rhythm he produced. He also taught at Hampton University, Rutgers University , North Texas State, and after graduating in law (1976) at North Carolina Central University and Delaware State University .

Honourings and prices

In 2000, Byrd received the State NEA Foundation's Jazz Masters Fellowship .

Discographic notes

  • Jazz Lab / Modern Jazz Perspective (Collectables, 1957)
  • Free Form (Blue Note, 1961)
  • A New Perspective (Blue Note, 1963)
  • Mustang! (Blue Note, 1966)
  • Blackjack (Blue Note, 1967)
  • Electric Byrd (Blue Note, 1970)
  • Black Byrd (Blue Note, 1972)
  • Street Lady (Blue Note, 1973)
  • Stepping Into Tomorrow (Blue Note, 1974)
  • Harlem Blues (Landmark Records, 1988)
  • Getting Down To Business (Landmark Records, 1990)

Lexigraphic entries

Web links

Obituaries

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary
  2. ↑ Jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd dies , Der Standard February 8, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Byrd, Donald
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz trumpeter
DATE OF BIRTH December 9, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Detroit
DATE OF DEATH 4th February 2013
Place of death Dover (Delaware)