Although he has a ton of albums that I adore, Donald Byrd's masterpiece I think was Blackbyrd! Surprisingly this album did not follow in the footsteps of "KOFI" which was more representative of Miles Davis stuff like "Bitches Brew" and "On The Corner".
In sharp contrast Byrd broke out the R&B grooves teaming up with Fonce Mizell to record this groundbreaking album making this the best selling Blue Note album of its time!
For Donald Byrd this album set him on his way and he would go on to make a few more groovy funk jazz album that would build on this work. Stylistically this album is a mix of R&B, Funk, 70's pop and jazz elements all swirled together into a cohesive album that a true toe tapper. The end result was a danceable album that was lighter and easier to listen to than many of his contemporaries. In many ways this is almost a pre-cursor to the Disco era! ....almost.
Oh yeah and there is some vocals on this recording but used mostly as a sound vs the whole lyrics thing...which I think gives it that 70's feel to the the album.
Byrd handed over all the song writing to Mizell and he just stuck to helping bring out the true nature of these songs. Byrd is assisted musically by some pretty good musicians including Roger Glenn (flutes), Joe Sample (keys), Fref Perren (keys), Dean Parks (guitar), Wilton Felder (bass), Harvey mason (drums), Bobye Porter Hall (Percussion) and Larry Mizell (vocals).
Fans of FUNK will love this album very much with songs like "Slop Jar Blues" and "Flight TIme" with its groovy bass lines.
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