Byrd In Hand [Remaster]

Performer: Donald Byrd
Artist: Charlie Rouse; Pepper Adams; Walter Davis, Jr.; Sam Jones; Art Taylor
Engineer: Rudy Van Gelder
Producer: Alfred Lion; Michael Cuscuna (Reissue)
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Donald Byrd (trumpet); Charlie Rouse (tenor saxophone); Pepper Adams (baritone saxophone); Walter Davis Jr. (piano); Sam Jones (bass); Art Taylor (drums). Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on May 31, 1959. Personnel: Donald Byrd (trumpet); Charlie Rouse (tenor saxophone); Pepper Adams (baritone saxophone, brass); Walter Davis, Walter Davis, Jr. (piano); Art Taylor (drums). Audio Remasterer: Rudy Van Gelder. Liner Note Authors: Ira Gitler; Bob Blumenthal. Recording information: New York, NY (05/31/1959); Van Gelder Studios, Hackensack, NJ (05/31/1959). Photographer: Francis Wolff. Before he became one of the major crossover performers in jazz, trumpeter Donald Byrd also typified American hard bop. His bright, melodious, quick-witted tone shone in all contexts (including John Coltrane, Jackie McLean, and others), but especially his own. The cleverly titled BYRD IN HAND, from 1959, features Byrd fronting an exceptional group--saxophonists Charlie Rouse (Thelonious Monk's right-hand man) and Pepper Adams (baritone), Walter Davis Jr. on piano, bassist Sam Jones (from Cannonball Adderley), and bop drum king Art Taylor. Byrd's trumpet with these two sax giants makes for a truly distinctive front-line sound, and everyone plays with class and verve.

Down Beat (1960) - 5 Stars - Excellent - "...[Byrd] has a keen lyrical ability, which he fuses with a propensity for boiling pyrotechnics. The resulting alloy is one of the most satisfying brasses in modern jazz....a steaming, swinging, utterly satisfying performance..."

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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