Electric Byrd

Performer: Donald Byrd
Artist: Frank Foster; Ron Carter; Lew Tabackin; Hermeto Pascoal; Airto Moreira; Pepper Adams
Engineer: Rudy Van Gelder
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Donald Byrd (trumpet); Jerry Dodgion (soprano & alto saxophones, flute); Lew Tabackin (tenor saxophone, flute); Frank Foster (tenor saxophone, alto clarinet); Pepper Adams (baritone saxophone, clarinet); Bill Campbell (trombone); Hermeto Pascoal (flute); Duke Pearson (electric piano); Wally Richardson (guitar); Ron Carter (bass); Mickey Roker (drums); Airto Moreira (percussion). Producer: Duke Pearson. Reissue producer: Bob Belden. Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on May 15, 1970. Includes liner notes by Nat Hentoff. This is part of the Blue Note Records Rare Groove series. Personnel: Donald Byrd (trumpet); Wally Richardson (guitar); Lew Tabackin (flute, saxophone, tenor saxophone); Hermeto Pascoal (flute); Pepper Adams (clarinet, baritone saxophone, brass); Frank Foster (alto clarinet, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Bill Campbell (trombone); Duke Pearson (electric piano); Mickey Roker (drums); Airto Moreira (percussion). Liner Note Author: Nat Hentoff. Recording information: Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, NJ (05/15/1970); Ven Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, NJ (05/15/1970). Donald Byrd's transitional sessions from 1969-1971 are actually some of the trumpeter's most intriguing work, balancing accessible, funky, Davis-style fusion with legitimate jazz improvisation. Electric Byrd, from 1970, is the best of the bunch, as Byrd absorbs the innovations of Bitches Brew and comes up with one of his most consistent fusion sets of any flavor. Byrd leads his largest fusion group yet (ten to 11 pieces), featuring many of his cohorts of the time (including Jerry Dodgion, Lew Tabackin, and Frank Foster on various woodwinds). Most important are electric pianist Duke Pearson, who once again dominates the arrangements, and percussionist Airto Moreira, who in places lends a strong Brazilian feel that predates Return to Forever. Moreira also contributes one of the four compositions, "Xibaba," which starts out as an airy Brazilian tune but morphs into a free-form effects extravaganza; the rest are Byrd originals that prove equally imaginative and diverse. The Brazilian-tinged opener "Estavanico" has a gentle, drifting quality that's often disrupted by jarring dissonances. There's also the shifting -- and sometimes even disappearing -- slow groove of "Essence," and the hard-edged, bop-based funk of "The Dude." Much of the album has a spacy, floating feel indebted to the psychedelic fusion of Bitches Brew; it's full of open-ended solo improvisations, loads of amplification effects, and striking sonic textures. The arrangements are continually surprising, and the band never works the same groove too long, switching or completely dropping the underlying rhythms. So even if it wears its influences on its sleeve, Electric Byrd is indisputably challenging, high-quality fusion. It's also the end of the line for jazz purists as far as Donald Byrd is concerned, which is perhaps part of the reason the album has yet to receive its proper due. ~ Steve Huey

Down Beat (12/96, p.58) - 4 Stars (out of 5) "...fellow seekers Byrd and Pearson seam to be more interested in subtleties of rhythm, space and orchestral colors....ambitious--and fresh."

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.

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