CD reissue
Donald Byrd - trumpet, flugelhorn, electric trumpet, lead vocals
Fonce Mizell - trumpet, vocals
Roger Glenn - flutes, saxophones
Joe Sample - piano, electric piano
Fred Perren - electric piano, synthesizers, vocals
David T. Walker & Dean Parks - guitar
Chuck Rainey & Wilton Felder - electric bass
Harvey Mason - drums
Stephanie Spruill & Bobbye Porter Hall - percussion
Larry Mizell - vocals, arrangements
01. Flight Time (L. Mizell) - 8:27
02. Black Byrd (L. Mizell) - 8:00
03. Love's So Far Away (L. Mizell) - 6:00
04. Mr. Thomas (L. Mizell, W. Jordan) - 5:15
05. Sky High (L. Mizell) - 5:59
06. Slop Jar Blues (L. Mizell) - 6:00
07. Where Are We Going? (L. Mizell, L. Gordon) - 4:40
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When you are a super-jazz great whose name is Donald Byrd and have been acclaimed as one of the great jazz trumpeters in the business and you are still hearing the raves from your last album, ''Ethiopian Nights'', you wonder what you will do for an encore. This within itself is a supreme compliment which is reserved only for a performer of classical dimensions.
The Blue Note release of Donald's new LP tagged ''Black Byrd'' is the satisfying answer. Since the total involvement of Byrd in Afro-American music, it is no surprise to the many fans that this great jazz artist would revitalize these beats and traditional elements with the new magnetic sounds that a capable musician like Byrd can derive from the powerful new rhythms and sonorities developed for today's jazz sounds.
Especially noticeable exciting rhythms and Afro-American beats are heard with the tones ''Flight Time'', ''Black Byrd'' and ''Mr. Thomas''. With ''Black Byrd'', Donald Byrd puts new vitality with a blending of vocal voices augmented with avant-garde elements used in his own individual manner.
Donald Byrd is referred to as the musician cum laude. He continues to research and comes up with a new musical project each year hoping that with his knowledge he can pass on to the black man his findings of his true heritage and history.
Donald Byrd has a magic know-how of the blending of instruments and in this LP you will become cognizant of a vital, intense and enthralling power like on other music you have heard and it all adds up to one important factor. Donald Byrd is a man with a genius for sound.
It is through his music that you really get to know this man. With the tune ''Love’s So Far Away'', what you hear is a beautiful piece of music with feeling, drive and smoothness.
Donald Byrd has o strong solid background in jazz. He was actively involved with the world acclaimed Marshall Stearns Jazz Collection, o compilation of over 25,000 albums that trace the history of jazz in this country.
The jazz tunes heard in the album will not only delight the ears of music lovers but will be a sheer delight for dancers and choreographers who in the last years have been drawn to jazz not only for the musical and rhythmical qualities but for the manifestation of a life style. With this type of modern jazz music can become dance works concerning black pride, themes from life with ever increasing freedom of movement.
Donald Byrd makes it clear that he is deeply into jazz and grooved the public ear for more than twenty years.
Gertrude Gipson
