Jazz breaking news: Trumpet legend Donald Byrd dies aged 80
Friday, February 8, 2013
It’s been reported that legendary trumpeter Donald Byrd, probably best known in the States for his late-1950s and early-1960s Blue Note groups with Pepper Adams and Duke Pearson as well as his later jazz-funk albums with brothers Larry and Alphonso Mizell, died on Monday aged 80.
His friend the jazz pianist Alex Bugnon paid tribute to Byrd on his Facebook page: “Donald passed away Monday in Delaware, where he lived. His funeral will be held in Detroit sometime next week. I have no more patience for this unnecessary shroud of secrecy placed over his death by certain members of his immediate family."
As Jazzwise writer Tony Hall wrote of the trumpeter: “Byrd has somehow never quite received the respect that his work in the 1950s deserved, compared with Gillespie, Davis and Brownie. But both he and his contemporary Art Farmer developed individual and instantly recognisable styles and their records still sound fresh today.”
Considered one of the finest bebop trumpeters of the post-Clifford Brown era, Byrd was born in Detroit in 1932 and started his career as a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers during the 1950s, joining the ranks alongside such heavyweights as John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins and Herbie Hancock. He went on to sign to Blue Note making his debut with Off to the Races in 1959, becoming one of the label’s biggest names with a string of releases including A New Perspective from 1963 (pictured) and the classic Black Byrd from 1973 – the label’s highest selling album at the time. His 1961 album Free Form also saw him shining a light on the burgeoning talent of Herbie Hancock, alongside other stellar names such as Wayne Shorter and drummer Billy Higgins.
Moving from bop to funk to fusion, Byrd’s post Blue Note days never matched his success on the label as he continued to teach at North Texas State and Delaware State colleges. He made a slight return to his bop days with several recordings for the Landmark label, while in 1993 he also performed as part of rapper Guru’s Jazzamatazz project. Byrd’s recording legacy has continued to be felt through hip hop artists such as Public Enemy, Nas, the Pharcyde and Del Tha Funkee Homosapien who sampled his classic recordings, in turn bringing them to a new generation of listeners.