Search results for "Donald Byrd"

Donald Byrd: Here Am I (Rating: 95/100) posted in Music October 29, 07

When the New York Herald Tribune coined the term “hard bop,” it was like saying “wet water.” Bop had always been har...

Donald Byrd: Estavanico (Rating: 90/100) posted in Music January 16, 09

Electric Byrd is Donald Byrd's most appealing effort from his brief fusion period, which predated his R&B work with t...

Donald Byrd: Book's Bossa (Rating: 87/100) posted in Music July 16, 09

It's kind of astonishing the amount of jazz musicians that recorded and performed Bossa nova in the late 1960s. I gue...

Donald Byrd: Slow Drag (Rating: 90/100) posted in Music July 16, 09

Here we have yet another Bossa nova song disguised by a heavy piano bass and some bluesy changes. The opening to this...

Donald Byrd: Weasil (Rating: 88/100) posted in Music January 29, 08

An under-recognized classic, Fancy Free highlights Donald Byrd in transition between his acoustic hard-bop period and...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: 12 CLASSIC BLUE NOTE GROOVES

Alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson’s 1970 Blue Note recording Everything I Play Is Funky opens with a corny but telling d...

Donald Byrd (featuring Sonny Red): Fly Little Bird Fly (Rating: 90/100) posted in Music October 23, 08

Sylvester Kyner was his real name, but he was better known as Sonny Red. Despite several recordings as a leader and f...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: TWELVE SONNYS OF JAZZ

Jazz Quiz: What do these names have in common? Saul Berman Herman Blount Conrad Yeatis Clark William Criss C...

Donald Byrd (featuring Pepper Adams): Jeannine (Rating: 92/100) posted in Music December 23, 08

From 1958-'63, Donald Byrd and Pepper Adams combined to form one of the most appealing hard-bop partnerships. Byrd's ...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: 12 ESSENTIAL BARITONE SAX PERFORMANCES

                   Gerry Mulligan, ...

Donald Byrd: Cristo Redentor (Rating: 85/100) posted in Music October 23, 07

A New Perspective was unique at the time in that it featured a jazz combo in conjunction with a small gospel choir. O...

Donald Byrd: Mustang (Rating: 86/100) posted in Music March 16, 08

"Mustang" may not be the most famous hard-bop stallion from the Blue Note stables in the '50s and '60s, but it's high...

Gigi Gryce: Minority (Rating: 95/100) posted in Music June 16, 09

A considerable talent as a composer and altoist, Gigi Gryce produced a largely unnoticed discography that, although a...

Sonny Rollins: Decision (Rating: 90/100) posted in Music October 22, 07

“Decision” demonstrates a bit of tenor giant Sonny Rollins’s acclaimed ability to use thematic variation in the const...

Jackie McLean: Fidel (Rating: 85/100) posted in Music July 18, 08

Ten days before 27-year-old Jackie McLean's first Blue Note recording session as a leader, another first-time leader ...

Guru: Loungin' (Rating: 88/100) posted in Music August 07, 08

MC Guru (aka G.U.R.U., a backronym for Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal), has always rapped about jazz. From his Gan...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: HIP-HOP MEETS JAZZ

For well over forty years, jazz music and hip-hop music have flirted with each other on numerous occasions. When...

Horace Silver: Señor Blues (Rating: 95/100) posted in Music August 27, 08

After the demise of the cooperative group known as The Jazz Messengers (Kenny Dorham, Hank Mobley, Horace Silver, Dou...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: HORACE SILVER

Perceptive commentators such as Martin Williams and Bob Blumenthal have written about the creative craftsmanship of...

Cannonball Adderley: With Apologies To Oscar (Rating: 94/100) posted in Music March 25, 09

"With Apologies to Oscar" is not the most precisely performed track on Cannonball Adderley's Spontaneous Combustion, ...

Sonny Clark: Come Rain Or Come Shine (Rating: 82/100) posted in Music May 17, 09

“Come Rain Or Come Shine” is usually played in ballad tempo, but it is not an ordinary ballad. Because of the intensi...

Pepper Adams: The Long Two/Four (Rating: 90/100) posted in Music September 16, 08

10 to 4 at the 5 Spot delivers a single set of music from the famed NYC jazz club in 1958, a combination of Blak...

Horace Silver: Señor Blues (Rating: 95/100) posted in Music October 22, 07

One of the pioneers of the hard-bop movement, pianist Horace Silver composed a number of tunes with infectious rhythm...

Horace Silver: Cool Eyes (Rating: 89/100) posted in Music October 25, 07

Six Pieces of Silver marks the hard-bop pianist’s arrival as a legitimate bandleader and bop composer. Assembled fro...

Horace Silver: Enchantment (Rating: 95/100) posted in Music January 24, 08

New Mexico invited trouble in 1941 by emblazoning "Land of Enchantment" on their license plates. Enchanted visitors s...

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