The Best Of The Blackbyrds Rar
“Donald Byrd was the righttrumpeter at the right time when he arrived in NewYork at the age of 22 in 1955. Well schooled inboth the techniques of his horn and the uses to which they had been put by hispredecessors, and benefiting from the inquisitive professional environment ofhis native Detroit,he was noticed quickly and heard frequently.
Being one of the more responsible,habit-free members of the modern jazz scene was also an asset, particularly inthe rapidly expanding realm of independent jazz recording that was spurred bythe new 12-inch, 33 1/3 rpm long-playing record. Such extensive exposure,particularly when coupled with the search for a new trumpet genius to assumethe mantle of the late Clifford Brown, did not bode well in an often-ficklejazz world where familiarity bred contempt and new voices continued to emerge.Byrd's active pace continued, with his contemporaries as well as with sucholder masters as Lionel Hampton and Coleman Hawkins, but suddenly he found histalents taken for granted. To his credit, he was not demoralized by such shiftsin opinion.”. Byrd wasconsidered the heir apparent to Clifford Brown after Brown's death in 1956. Heplayed trumpet in a soaring, strong style with a tone, he once told me, thatderived directly from symphonic brass playing. He and his friend, baritonesaxophonist Pepper Adams, co-led a quintet between 1958 and 1961.
One day Donaldbrought to my apartment in Chicago a young pianist he had hired right out ofcollege. One constantly reads that Miles Davis was the first to discover thisyoung man.
He wasn't; Donald was. The pianist's name was Herbie Hancock. “Donald Byrd wonhis biggest following long after the hard bop era, when he formed TheBlackbyrds and capitalized on the jazz-funk fusion movement of the 1970s. Twodecades before, however, he had emerged as one of the most prolific of the newyoung hard bop players emerging in the mid-1950s. He cut his first recordingsessions as a leader in 1955, and already sounded like the finished article,although he would go on to find a more individual sound beyond his earlyClifford Brown influence as the decade progressed. The ensuing two yearsbrought him a plethora of sideman dates, and he appeared in that role on overfifty albums in that period. The qualitieswhich made him such an automatic first call are clear from the outset.
He had asolid musical education, was a good reader, and had excellent technical commandof his instrument. He had thoroughly assimilated the musical implications of thebop idiom, and while his playing was never really innovative or strikinglyoriginal, he was able to deliver consistently fluent, imaginative andwell-rounded improvisations within that idiom. His reliability (and the notentirely coincidental fact that he was not a drug user) also counted in hisfavors, and he was unlikely to upstage the leader with too generous a flow ofspectacular original ideas or virtuosity. DonaldsonToussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II was born in Detroit on 9 December, 1932. His father, a Methodist minister andamateur musician, named him after Toussaint L'Ouverture, the freed slave whobecame a revolutionary leader in Haiti in the late 18th century (the samerevolutionary period commemorated by Charles Mingus in his 'Haitian FightSong'), and Byrd retained a passionate interest in the broader field of Afro-Americanhistory, anthropology and culture. He earned several academic honors, includinga Bachelor in Music degree from Wayne State University in 1954, an MA from the Manhattan Schoolof Music, and a Ph.D. From the Columbia University School of Education in 1971,and developed a deserved reputation as a scholar and teacher of Afro-Americanmusic.
Back in the autumnof 1955, though, he was a hot young trumpet star in the making, freshly arrivedin NewYorkfrom the jazz hot spot of Detroit. He made his mark immediately. He hadalready recorded a live date for Transition in August, 1955, alongside anotheryoung Detroit hopeful, Yusef Lateef, who comes across asthe more advanced player (these sides were later acquired and reissued byDelmark).
He made his studio debut as a leader for Savoy in September, with saxophonist FrankFoster, a session which has appeared under various titles, including LongGreen and Byrd Lore. Byrd's principalassociations of the late 1950s, though, came in two groups: the Jazz LabQuintet he co-led with alto saxophonist Gigi Gryce, and the bands he sharedwith baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams. The Jazz Lab Quintet was formed in 1957to explore a more structured approach to hard bop than was generally evident inthe blowing session dates of the day.
They made several albums, the best knownof which are on the Riverside and Columbia labels,provided the trumpeter with one of his most productive settings. Inorder to avoid undue repetition, I have discussed their work together in theGigi Gryce section of this book (see Chapter 15; their recordings are alsolisted there), and will concentrate here on the second of these associations,with Pepper Adams. The baritonesaxophonist was born in Highland Park, Michigan, on 8 October, 1930, and raised in Rochester, New York.
At the age of sixteen, he moved to Detroit, where he broke into the local jazz scenein the late '40s, working with saxophonists Lucky Thomson and Wardell Gray,among others. Adams began playing clarinet and tenor saxophonebefore adopting the bigger horn, inspired by the example of Duke Ellington'sgreat baritone specialist, Harry Carney. Adams was only twelve when he first met Carney,but said later that his adoption of the instrument several years later was moredown to having an unexpected opportunity to acquire one cheaply.
A stint in thearmy took him away from the jazz scene from 1951-3 (Byrd was in another branchof the service at the same time), but he resumed his activities on his return.Inevitably, Byrd was one of the local musicians with whom he worked, and thetwo formed a close alliance. It was a natural step to get together in a band inNew York, which they duly did when Adams returned to the city after a spell onthe west coast in 1958, a residence which inevitably created mistakenexpectations that he would sound like Gerry Mulligan, a perception encouragedby the release of his debut solo album with the distinctly west coast-soundingtitle of The Cool Sound of Pepper Adams on Savoy in 1957. Byrd's crisp,richly brassy, increasingly lyrical trumpet work and the fleet, sinewy, drivingapproach which Adams had developed on baritone were combinedwith their notably complementary approach to phrasing and rhythmic placement toform a highly effective front line, either with the two horns or an additionalalto or tenor saxophone. They gigged and recorded together under one or theother's nominal leadership as well as in tandem, and are heard on records likeAdams's classic live date 10 to 4 at The Five Spot, recordedon 5 April, 1958 for Riverside; Motor City Scene (aka Stardust),an all-Detroit date for Bethlehem in 1960; and a 1961 date for Warwick Records,Outof This World, in which Herbie Hancock made his recording debut. Thecore of their collaboration, however, is contained in the series of recordingsthey made for Blue Note between 1958 and 1961, both live and in the studio (thelatter were collected by Mosaic Records in The Complete Blue Note Donald Byrd/Pepper Adams Studio Sessionsin 2000, which also includes a later date from 1967, belatedly issued in 1981as The Creeper).
Their studio workin the earlier period yielded five albums. The first two, Off To The Races from21 December, 1958 and Byrd In Hand, recorded on 31 May, 1959, both featured sextets (as did the 1967date), with the trumpet-baritone combination augmented by Jackie McLean'ssearching alto and Charlie Rouse's tenor respectively. Bassist Sam Jones anddrummer Art Taylor played on both albums, while Wynton Kelly was the pianist onthe earlier date, and Walter Davis, Jr.
Filled that chair on Byrd In Hand (Byrdreturned the favor in August on the pianist's excellent Davis Cup, a Blue Notealbum which was his only date as a leader until a flurry of activity in hislast decade, starting in 1977). Chant, recorded on 17 April, 1961, but notreleased until much later; The Cat Walk, laid down two weekslater, on 2 May, 1961; and Royal Flush, from 21 September,1961, were all quintet dates, and gave early recording breaks to the respectivepianists, Herbie Hancock on Chant (with bassist Doug Watkins,another old Detroit buddy of Byrd's, and drummer Terri Robinson) and RoyalFlush, and Duke Pearson on The Cat Walk.
While a good pianist,Pearson's real strength lay in composing and arranging, and he contributedseveral tunes to the band's repertoire (Byrd later played on one of thepianist's best albums as a leader, Wahoo, released on Blue Note in1964). By the end of1961, the leaders had broken up the band to pursue their own projects, and theyreunited only for The Creeper date in 1967, with alto saxophonist Sonny Red, anold school mate of Byrd's from Detroit (his real name was Sylvester Kyner) whofeatured on several of the trumpeter's albums in the mid-'60s, and Chick Coreaon piano.
Adams went off to work with Lionel Hampton andthen Thad Jones, while Byrd concentrated more fully on his own activities as aleader. He had already cut two sessions for Blue Note without his baritonepartner: the rather lackluster Fuego, recorded in October, 1959,with Jackie McLean on board, and Byrd in Flight (a title that seemedinevitable at some point), made in two sessions in January and July, 1960, witheither McLean on alto or Hank Mobley on tenor. Although most ofhis work was done for Blue Note in this period, Byrd also recorded occasionallyfor other labels. A two-volume live recording of a Paris concert in 1958, ByrdIn Paris, with the Belgian flautist and saxophonist Bobby Jaspar, isone such record, while another, recorded in January, 1962, and released as Groovin'With Nat on Black Lion, saw him form a two trumpet front line withJohnny Coles, who also played with Gil Evans and Charles Mingus, among others,but made relatively few records as a leader (he is heard to advantage on hissole Blue Note date from 1963, Little Johnny C.) Although not aswell known as Byrd's many Blue Note issues, both of these records are worthhearing. Byrd had developedsteadily throughout the late 1950s, both as a player and as a composer. RoyalFlush featured the Blue Note debut of Butch Warren and Billy Higgins, arhythm team that became a staple of Alfred Lion's stable in the early '60s, anddepartures like the modal scales used on 'Jorgie's' and the mobile drum pulseon 'Shangri-La' gave hints of the more experimental approach which Byrd adoptedon his next session for the label, Free Form, recorded on 11 December,1961. The original LP opened in classic hard bop fashion with the gospel beatof 'Pentecostal Feelin', and worked through three more originalcompositions by the trumpeter, including the subtly inflected 'Nai Nai', andHancock's exotic ballad, 'Night Flower' (the CD release added the pianist's'Three Wishes').
The mostintriguing departure from the conventions of hard bop came in Byrd's 'FreeForm', in which they extended some of the harmonic and rhythmic directionsexplored on Royal Flush. The tune uses a scale (based on a serial tone row)and a free pulse as a flexible framework for experiment. Byrd described theprocess in the sleeve note in these terms: 'We move in and out of that basicframework. The tune has no direct relation to the tempo. I mean that nobodyplayed in the tempo Billy maintains, and we didn't even use it to bring in themelody. Billy's work is just there as a percussive factor, but it's not presentas a mark of the time. There is no time in the usual sense, so far as thesoloists are concerned.'
Even if thetrumpeter occasionally sounds as if he is struggling to assimilate his stylewithin the context of Wayne Shorter's oblique probings, Hancock's adventurousopen chord voicings, and the flexibility of Warren and Higgins, Free Formremains one of his finest albums, although not everyone would agree, startingwith the Penguin Guide. Perhaps with rather more justification, they do notthink much of its successor, either, but A New Perspective broke fresh groundfor Byrd in its combination of a vocal chorus of eight singers (directed byColeridge Perkinson, who had arranged the choir on Max Roach's It'sTime the previous year) and a septet which featured Hank Mobley andguitarist Ken ny Burrell as well as Hancock, witharrangements by Duke Pearson. The album wasrecorded on 12 January, 1963 (Byrd had spent much of the interveningtime studying composition in Paris ), and earned the trumpeter a minor hitwith its best known track, 'Christo Redentor'.
It drew on a long-standingstrain of gospel-derived music in Byrd's work, but in a populist form whichforeshadowed the crossover directions he would follow in an even more overtlycommercial idiom in the 1970s. He repeated the experiment with less success on I'mTrying To Get Home in December, 1964 (he had made a rather nondescriptalbum for Verve, Up With Donald Byrd, between these Blue Note dates), andrecorded several more hard bop oriented sessions for Alfred Lion in themid-'60s, released on albums like Mustang, Blackjack Slow Drag, and The Creeper(all featuring altoman Sonny Red). The introductionof modal and even freer elements in his albums of the early- 1960s demonstratedhis awareness of the new directions running through jazz, and that tension isequally evident in the music on these albums. By the time of the late-1960ssessions issued on Fancy Free, Kofi and Electric Byrd, he wasmoving in the direction of a more overt jazz-funk and rhythm and blues feelwhich would make him a star in the 1970s, a breakthrough which finally arrivedwith the formation of The Blackbyrds and the release of Black Byrd in 1972. Itbecame Blue Note's biggest selling album, and took the trumpeter away from hardbop altogether, into an often forgettable fusion vein which took in smooth pop,disco, and an early entry into jazz-meets-hip hop with rapper Guru andsaxophonist Courtney Pine in Jazzmatazz.
Almost from theday he arrived in New York City in 1955 from his native Detroit, Mr. Byrd was at the center of themovement known as hard bop, a variation on bebop that put greater emphasis on jazz’sblues and gospel roots. Known for his pure tone and impeccable technique, heperformed or recorded with some of the most prominent jazz musicians of thatera, including John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins and the drummerArt Blakey, considered one of jazz’s great talent scouts. As a bandleader, Mr.Byrd was sometimes a talent scout too — one of the first to hire a promisingyoung pianist named Herbie Hancock, who, like Mr. Byrd, would later be called arenegade for an approach that won a wide audience but displeased many critics. Byrd, a strongadvocate of music education, spent much of the 1960s teaching. Then, in 1973,he made a surprising transition to pop stardom with the album produced by the brothers Larryand Fonce Mizell, who had been his students at Howard University in Washington.
Byrd’s restrained licks (heplayed both trumpet and fluegelhorn) layered over an irresistible funk grooveseasoned with wah-wah guitar and simple, repeated lyrics (“Get in the groove,just can’t lose”), “Black Byrd” reached the Billboard Top 100, where it peakedat No. I am pleased to announce that Horace Silver Complete Volume 4: The 80s has just been published by Really Good Music LLC, the leading music publisher serving the professional jazz community. In 1981 Silver formed his own label, Silveto records, and subsequently released 5 studio albums of great tunefulness and soul.
This new book contains authentic combo transcriptions to all of these tunes, including horn, piano and bass parts and occasional piano solos too. Comprising 82 pages of printed music (plus a foreword from saxophonist Ralph Moore, who was present on a number of the dates), the book is a must for all jazz players, educators and Horace Silver aficionados.
There’s a difference between understanding something and accepting it. When you play Jazz, you can copy those who most impress you on your instrument, but at some point you have to step back and accept what you can do in developing your own style on the instrument.
This doesn’t mean complacency. You should continue to practice and try to improve your skills. The more technical mastery you have the easier it becomes to free your mind to invent your improvisations. Also important is the lesson contained in the following excerpt from George Shearing’s autobiography: “.becoming a jazz pianist with some direction about what your style is going to be.
That involves thinking about who you're going to follow or how you're going to develop a style of your own, and from what grounds.”. Willis Conover (1920-1996) was a jazz producer and broadcaster on the Voice of America for over forty years. He produced jazz concerts at the White House, the Newport Jazz Festival, and for movies and television. Download zenonia 1 premium apk.
Conover is credited with keeping interest in jazz alive in the countries of eastern Europe through his nightly broadcasts during the cold war when jazz was banned by most of the communist governments. Conover was not well known in the United States, even among jazz aficionados, but his visits to eastern Europe and Russia brought huge crowds and star treatment for him. The Digital CollectionThe UNT Digital Library contains a small selection of program lists, recording schedules, and promos that come from a much larger collection of Conover materials available in tangible form at the UNT Music Library. The Physical CollectionA 1997 gift of the Willis Conover Jazz Preservation Foundation, Inc., the physical collection consists of over 22,000 recordings of all kinds, correspondence, memos, magazines, record catalogs, manuscripts, program notes, memorabilia, photographs, books, and other personal items. Many of the recordings and books are being added to the regular collection, cataloged in the UNT Libraries' online catalog, and allowed to circulate.
The archival and historical material will be made available as special collections.For more information, including inventories of circulating recordings, please see the UNT Music Library's page. “Jazz musicians are their music. Absent that, they're just people making a living, eating meals, paying bills — no different from cops or politicos. But that's just the point: the music can't be subtracted: it's the defining essence, which sets musicians apart, makes them special and ultimately a little mysterious. Makes their various complexes and misbehaviors interesting to writers, chroniclers, fans.
Would British writer Geoff Dyer, for example, have found Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, Art Pepper, and the other walking pathologies celebrated in his BUT BEAUTIFUL (Farrar, Straus, 1996) so fascinating had it not been for the music they made? Subtract the music and you have just another chronicle of aberrant thought and behavior.
In a review of his book, I wondered whether Dyer would have been similarly drawn to musicians such as Henry “Red” Allen, Dizzy Gillespie, and Red Norvo, no less brilliant, who seem to have led balanced, eminently non-neurotic lives.”. Hi Steven, You don't know me - and I don't really know you, but I’ve been enjoying your Jazz Profiles blogspot for some time now. (Specifically the recent Roy DuNann piece.) So first of all: thanks for that! Secondly, the reason for me writing you is that I’ve been quite busy organizing my jazz collection and have compiled and uploaded a handful of homemade radio shows on the podcast platform Mixcloud.
The Blackbyrds Walking In Rhythm
Initially this was a project intended for Izaak, my son, who’s only two years old right now, but I think they’d be quite interesting for any true classic bop and hard bop jazz lovers. Problem is; nobody's listening to them. I thought, if you shared my enthusiasm, they perhaps could be linked somehow to your blogspot. But only if you think that’s appropriate.
Two important notes: 1: there’s absolutely no commercial incentive involved here 2: the podcasts are a hundred percent non stop music, so no talking, jingles or add’s etc. Check them out, if you have the time. Right now there are five compilations, each one focussing on on a major jazz label, so there’s Prestige, Blue Note, Savoy, Riverside and Contemporary for now. Ok, so that’s basically it.
Thanks for taking the time and let me know what you think. Kind regards, Geugie Hoogeveen the Netherlands.
A soul vocal and close harmony group formed in 1953 as the El-Rays, who comprised:Johnny Funches (b.18th July 1935, Harvey, Illinois, U.S.A., d. 23rd January 1998, lead)Marvin Junior (b.
31st January 1936, Harrell, Arkansas, U.S.A., tenor)Verne Allison (b. 22nd June 1936, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., tenor)Lucius McGill (b. 1935, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., tenor)Mickey McGill (b. 17th February 1937, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., baritone)Chuck Barksdale (b. 11th January 1935, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., bass)Read More @.
30comments:said.1988 - The Second Time The Dells! I'll help out in the next few days.
Just to make a quick comment (and this is a bit complex). The 'Stay In My Corner' album is an early compilation album (augmented by a few new songs that would end up on later albums). 'Stay In My Corner' contains songs from the following albums: 'It's Not Unusual' (1965), 'There Is' (1968), 'The Dells' Musical Menu/Always Together' (1969)(yes, both names apply to this album, but it was also released as 'Musical Meny' only - same album cover), and finally, one song appeared on 'Freedom Means' (1971). Look at this to get a better picture!: I'll upload a few gaps in the following days (if it's not been taken care of already!). /Chris from StockholmAnonymoussaid.OK, a few more observations: On your list, the album 'The Dells' is actually from 1973, and not 1969 (I know there are some discogs on the web that lists this as from 1969).
Check this out for a solid discog: Moreover, 'Dreams of Contentment' and 'Vol 2' are both early material compilations. Missing from the list are 'Open Up My Heart: The 9/11 Suite' (as opposed to the 'Open Up My Heart: The 9/11 Album'. Slightly different track list. And finally, after a phenomenal 56 years performing together, and 47 years with the same lineup (!), the Dells released an album in early 2008 called 'Then And Now', which combines new material with their classic recordings. /Chris from StockholmAnonymoussaid.Almost forgot: Oh, What A Night (Cadet 1970) is compilation.
The Best Of The Blackbyrds Rar Music
/Chris from StockholmAnonymoussaid.The debut album from 1959: Enjoy! Chris from StockholmAnonymoussaid.The Dell Musical Menu / Always Together (Cadet 1969) Enjoy! Chris from Stockholm PS! This is the same album as Musical Menu – so you can erase that item from the listAnonymoussaid.We Got To Get Our Thing Together (Cadet 1975) Please note that two songs are deliberately omitted, i.e. Track 6 “Love Is Missing From Our Lives” (feat. The Dramatics) had already appeared a year earlier on the 1974 album “The Dells vs The Dramatics” and track no.
10 “You Don't Care” is recycled from the 1973 album “Give Your Baby A Standing Ovation”. Chris from Stockholm PS! Compare (Google!) the album cover of this LP with the Canadian soul group Sweet Blindness (formerly The Statlers) excellent album from 1976 called “Music You Can Ride On”. Whaddayaknow!!Anonymoussaid.We Got To Get Our Thing Together (Cadet 1975) Please note that two songs are deliberately omitted, i.e.
Track 6 “Love Is Missing From Our Lives” (feat. The Dramatics) had already appeared a year earlier on the 1974 album “The Dells vs The Dramatics” and track no. 10 “You Don't Care” is recycled from the 1973 album “Give Your Baby A Standing Ovation”.
Chris from Stockholm PS! Compare (Google!) the album cover of this LP with the Canadian soul group Sweet Blindness (formerly The Statlers) excellent album from 1976 called “Music You Can Ride On”. Whaddayaknow!!Anonymoussaid.As you know, The Dells had a long recording career before they released their first full-length album: Here are some 45’s from the 50’s and early 60’s. If you want more, look for compilations like “Rockin’ On Bandstand” (Charly 1983)” or “From Streetcorner To Soul” (Charly 1984). Chris from StockholmAnonymoussaid.The Dells contributed with two songs to the 1991 movie Five Heartbeats soundtrack (a movie that was loosely based on the Dell’s career).
The Blackbyrds Flying Start
The songs were “A Heart Is A House For Love”, which was new, as well as “Stay In My Corner”, which can be found as three versions throughout the discography (and which is why I’m not including it here). Often mistaken to be a Dells song “Nights Like This” was actually performed by After 7. Chris from StockholmAnonymoussaid.Finally, here’s a treat: Not so widely known, The Dells contributed a newly penned (and good, too!) song called “You Promised Me” to the French gritty movie “Comme Un Aimant” (Like A Magnet) from 2000 (great soundtrack, by the way). When you listen to this suggestive song, bear in mind that our friends at that time were all drawing close to 70 years old Would your grandpa be able to pull off a song like this: Enjoy! Chris from Stockholmsaid.Chris from Stockholm 'Would your grandpa be able to pull off a song like this' LOL:D:D great job!:)said.Another Compilation The Dells: Oh What A Night (1989) Could someone please repost The debut album from 1959: Oh What A Nite & TheDellsEarlyRecordings (early 45's. Much thanks.Anonymoussaid.good idea.
But why.oh why the 128bit rate???? Anybody who really enjoy listening to music just despises this compression rate.what a waste of time.sic.said.Would you be so kind to repost the 1975 Cadet album' We got to get our thing together?The link is no longer valid!iRoNysaid.The 'Oh What a Nite' (1959) album is down, can you please re-up?Thank you!said.Ultimate Collection (2004):Mr.
Moo, Linked up nowsaid.2nd request for We Got To Get Our Thing Together: 1975 by The Dells. I did a request on the 17th of april.
No matter I didn;t hear anything form you!Could you please re-post the album?