Biography

Donald Byrd set the standard for hard-bop trumpet in his days as a regular on the Prestige and Blue Note labels. His brassy tone and adventurous solos, coupled with a deep sense of the blues, made him one of the most in-demand trumpeters of the 1950s and '60s. Later, Byrd turned to the R&B-influenced side of jazz, which sustained him through several successful years in the late '60s. By the 1970s, Byrd had fully embraced funk and R&B in the form of his popular group, the Blackbyrds. In the '90s, Byrd was introduced to a new crowd when he was a featured performer on rapper Guru's groundbreaking JAZZMATAZZ.

Top Tracks

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• 6m's

• A Portrait Of Jennie

• Amen

• Angel Eyes

• Around The Corner

• Beale Street

• Birdhouse

• Black Byrd

• Blue Monk

• Blues Well Done

• Bronze Dance

• Butterfly

• Caricatures

• Change (makes You Wanna Hustle)

• Chant

• Chasing The Bird

• Child's Play

• Cristo Redentor

• Dance Band

• Devil Whip

• Down

• Elgy

• Estavanico

• Flight Time

• Free Form

• Fuego

• Funky Mama

• Ghana

• Groovin' For Nat

• Hello Bright Sunflower

• Hush

• I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good)

• I Love The Girl

• I Will Wait For You

• I'll Always Love You

• I'm An Old Cowhand

• I'm An Old Cowhand (from The Rio Grande)

• I'm So Excited By You

• It Might As Well Be Spring

• Kimyas

• Kofi

• Lansana's Priestess

• Lazy Afternoon

• Lex

• Libeccio

• Lover, Come Back To Me

• Medley: Early Morning Blues/now, Don't You Know

• Mustang

• My Ideal

• Nica's Tempo

• Night Flower

• November Afternoon

• Off Minor/intro/well You Needn't/salt Peanuts

• Off To The Races

• Onward 'til Morning

• Out Of This World

• Passade

• Pentecostal Feelin'

• Places And Spaces

• Pure D. Funk

• Satellite

• Say You're Mine

• Scoochie

• Secret Love

• September Afternoon

• Shangri-la

• Sister Love

• Sky High

• Speculation

• Stardust

• Stella By Starlight

• Stepping Into Tomorrow

• Street Lady

• Sudwest Funk

• That's All

• The Black Disciple

• The Cantaloupe Woman

• The Cat Walk

• The Creeper

• The Emperor

• Theme For Malcolm

• Think Twice

• Tortion Level

• West Of Pecos

• Witchcraft

• Woody 'n You

• Xibaba

• Yusef

Discography

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• At Newport

  Verve / Universal Distribution / Universal Music

  2002

• Love Byrd

  Wounded Bird Records

  1981

• Caricatures

  Blue Note

  1976

• Stepping into Tomorrow

  Blue Note

  1975

• Street Lady

  Blue Note

  1973

• Ethiopian Knights

  Blue Note

  1971

• Kofi

  Blue Note

  1971

• Electric Byrd

  Blue Note

  1970

• Fancy Free

  Blue Note

  1970

• The Creeper

  Blue Note

  1967

• Chant

  Blue Note

  1961

• Motor City Scene

  Bethlehem Music Company, Inc. / Rhino/WEA

  1960

• Stardust

  Bethlehem High Fidelity

  1960

• Three Trumpets

  Original Jazz Classics

  1958

• Star Eyes

  Savoy

  1957

• Jazz Lab

  Jubilee

  1957

• Byrd Blows on Beacon Hill

  Super Bit

  1957

• Modern Jazz Perspective (Jazz Lab, Vol. 2)

  Columbia

  1957

• September Afternoon

  Discovery

  1956

• Two Trumpets

  Prestige Records

  1956

• The Jazz Message Of...

  Savoy

  1956

• Byrd's Eye View

  Toshiba EMI

  1955

• Long Green

  Savoy

  1955

• Byrd Jazz

  Transition Productions

  1955