CD1
Byrd’s Word
1. Winterset; 2. Gotcha Goin’ n Comin’; 3. Long Green; 4. Stareyes; 5. Someone to Watch Over Me
Byrd’s Eye View
6. Doug’s Blues; 7. El Sino; 8. Everything Happens To Me; 9. Hank’s Tune
CD2
Byrd’s Eye View
1. Hank’s Other Tune
All Night Long
2. All Night Long; 3. Boo-Lu; 4. Flickers; 5. Li’l Hankie
Byrd Blows on Beacon Hill
6. Little Rock Getaway; 7. Polka Dots And Moonbeams; 8. People Will Say We’re In Love; 9. If I Love Again; 10. What’s New; 11. Stella By Starlight
Byrd’s Word recorded Hackensack, New Jersey, USA on 29 September, 1955
Personnel: Donald Byrd (trumpet), Frank Foster (tenor sax), Hank Jones (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Kenny Clarke (drums)
Byrd’s Eye View recorded 2 December, 1955, Harvard Square, Cambridge, Mass, USA
Personnel: Donald Byrd (trumpet), Joe Gordon (trumpet), Hank Mobley (tenor sax), Horace Silver (piano), Doug Watkins (bass), Art Blakey (drums)
All Night Long recorded Hackensack, New Jersey, USA on 28 December, 1956
Personnel: Donald Byrd (trumpet), Hank Mobley (tenor sax), Jerome Richardson (flute, tenor sax), Kenny Burrell (guitar), Mal Waldron (piano), Doug Watkins
(bass), Arthur Taylor (drums)
Byrd Blows On Beacon Hill recorded 7 May, 1956, at Steve Fassett’s house, Beacon Hill, Boston, Mass, USA
Personnel: Donald Byrd (trumpet), Ray Santisi (piano), Doug Watkins (bass), Jim Zitano (drums)
AVID JAZZ AMSC 1133
2 discs [72:56] [78:03]
When it concerns Avid Jazz you can’t complain about being short-changed, (which often does happen with jazz records), because they always offer incredible
value for money with state of the art re-mastered 2 disc sets comprising 4 old vinyl albums, at super budget prices of around £6 ($9.50). Since they came
on the scene in 1989 they have released dozens of jazz discs as well as other genres of music. Often they are a primary source for those classic albums
that were cutting edge jazz when first released.
Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II (named after the leader of the slave rebellion that resulted in the establishment of the independent state of
Haiti) was born in 1932 in Detroit and once he’d moved to New York early in 1955 he quickly established himself as one of the most sought after trumpeters
in jazz. After the cruel untimely death in a car accident of Clifford Brown in June1956 Byrd took on the mantle as one of the finest hard bop trumpet
players of the post Clifford Brown era. Byrd was one of those rare jazzmen who, following his stint in a military band of the US Air Force, took a
bachelor’s degree in music, followed by a master’s degree. While he was still studying for his master’s he joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers followed by
periods playing with the likes of Mal Waldron, Jackie McLean, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins and Thelonius Monk. Later he played along with Herbie Hancock
who he nutured and who credits him with introducing him to Mongo Santamaria who turned Hancock’s tune Watermelon Man into the all-time hit that it
became.
Byrd’s Word
is the first album he made in New York as leader, already having recorded 4 other sessions in six months there for Oscar Cadena, producer for Savoy
Records. With him on the record are fellow Detroit natives Paul Chambers and Hank Jones as well as Frank Foster and Kenny Clarke, both of whom began their
climb up the jazz ladder of fame in that same city. If you like your jazz straight ahead with no over the top frills then you will find this disc suits you
well for it’s just that: great tunes played in an unfussy way but delivering some great solos from all concerned.
It was interesting to note that Gotcha Goin’ n Comin’ was penned by Cadena, surely an unusual thing for a record producer to do. Introduced by a
gentle rhythm section and taken up by Hank Jones’ piano leads to Donald Byrd’s sweet trumpet for several minutes before Frank Foster delivers a beautifully
dreamy solo, matched by Hank Jones’ and Paul Chambers’ solos and ending with an imaginatively laid back signing off drum solo in which Kenny Clarke merely
caresses his cymbals on the way out.
There’s some great blowing on all the tracks but I must say I really enjoyed Byrd’s treatment of the classic standards Stareyes and Gershwin’s Someone To Watch Over Me in which Frank Foster’s sax takes the listener back to reverie once again. Paul Chambers’ beautifully measured bass is
again in full flower while Hank Jones provides a lovely lilting piano accompaniment to Byrd and Foster and Kenny Clarke, one of hard bop drumming’s
innovators and founding member of the MJQ, underpins everything with his customary understated playing.
The second album covered on disc one is Byrd’s Eye View on which the line up is completely different with Byrd joined by fellow trumpeter Joe
Gordon and jazz giants Art Blakey on drums and the recently sadly departed Horace Silver on piano. Add to these great musicians Hank Mobley on tenor sax
and Doug Watkins’ wonderful walking bass and the result is a dream team in the true sense of the phrase. Doug’s Blues is a great way to start with
Donald Byrd’s crisp playing set against Joe Gordon’s wailing trumpet and Silver’s beautifully impactful pianism making an important contribution.
Incidentally it was surprising to read that the tune is given as “traditional” having nothing to do with Doug Watkins. El Sino has the two trumpet
players taking turns to improvise the tune which contrasts their styles perfectly with each seeming to try and outdo the other with the listener the
declared winner in this friendly battle.
Side B of the original record kicks off with a lovely slow ballad Everything Happens To Me with Donald Byrd’s wonderfully understated trumpet
allowing the tune to tell its sad story and Hank Mobley’s brief intervention serves to underline the gentle nature of the number. The CD finishes with the
penultimate track from the original record with the last having to wait for the second CD. Both are Mobley penned tunes with, it has to be said, the
unimaginative titles of Hank’s Tune and Hank’s Other Tune but what they lack in inspired titling they more than make up for musically
with Blakey showing his mettle as only he could while the three horns are united in their blowing abilities.
Hank’s Other Tune
is an altogether more laid back affair allowing for Mobley to show what his fame was based upon, namely silky soft sounds and an innate ability to pen a
tune that, in this case soon found its way to becoming part of the Jazz Messengers’ staple fare and rightly so. Coupled with the fact that it was written
at the very session when the album was recorded it is another remarkable example of the true jazzman at work.
One year later when the original vinyl record All Night Long was recorded the line up changes again and we have a septet of incredible musicians
which apart from Byrd of course retained Hank Mobley and Doug Watkins but added Jerome Richardson on tenor sax and flute, Kenny Burrell on guitar, Mal
Waldron on piano and with anchorman Arthur Taylor on drums. Kicking off with the album’s title track All Night Long by Burrell we have the 2 CD
set’s longest tune which weighing in at 17 minutes really allows positions to be firmly established. There are wonderful solos from Burrell who introduces
it all and then Jerome Richardson’s supremely mellifluous flute takes over to underline the mellow nature of the tune with Byrd making his presence felt at
various stages and Hank Mobley’s contribution from his sexy sounding sax as welcome as ever.
Boo-lu
it says in the original sleeve notes has echoes of Africa in its DNA though it speaks Latin to me but never mind it is a great Hank Mobley tune that gives
everyone plenty of chance to shine with some more superb flute playing from Richardson and guitar playing from Burrell. Taylor’s drums dictate the
framework of the piece and Byrd, Mobley and Mal Waldron make their important and supremely musical contributions with Richardson and Burrell combining to
bring it to an end.
Mal Waldron’s tune Flickers, as the notes say, may be an allusion to the movies but in any case it is a neat little number with each musician
being given his space upon the stage.
The album closes with Hank Mobley’s Li’l Hankie and is a beautifully measured minor tune, as was Boo-lu, and again everyone has their
chance to shine apart from Watkins and Taylor who do their job of anchoring things “at the back” as well as you would expect from such experienced hands.
The final album showcased on this set is Byrd Blows on Beacon Hill and the original notes call it Byrd’s ‘first quartet album’ which makes no
sense since the first here, Byrd’s Word was, according to its note writer, Producer Oscar Cadena and the recording date certainly places it as
coming before this one by over seven months. No matter it’s all about the music which is great just as one has come to expect when this trumpet player has
anything to do with it. Here we have six numbers shoehorned into a half hour or so of fine jazz courtesy of Donald Byrd’s beautifully lyrical playing
together with his now regular bassist Doug Watkins and two musicians specially requested for the session, Ray Santisi and Jim Zitano, both of whom he had
enjoyed sessions with during his visit to Boston to record Byrd’s Eye View. Byrd’s lyricism is nowhere better demonstrated than on Polka Dots And Moonbeams while Rogers & Hammerstein’s classic People Will Say We’re In Love ups the pace to provide Ray Santisi with
ample opportunity to show the reasoning behind Byrd’s invitation to play on this album.
When Byrd uses a mute he does so with such aplomb that If I Love Again is heard as if for the first time while Jim Zitano’s short burst shows his
mettle in the hardware department. What’s New has Doug Watkins’ gorgeous sounding bass dominating for most of its brief span with Santisi’s gentle
pianism and Zitano’s softly brushed drums accompanying while Byrd takes time out.
The final offering on the set is Stella By Starlight which gives us 3’45” of fast paced music with each musician making his solid contribution
against which Donald Byrd shows why his star was so justifiably in the ascendant in the mid 1950s and remained so for decades to come.
As stated at the outset jazz fans can do no better than explore the catalogue of Avid Jazz where they will find so many gems like this one that they will
feel as if they’ve found Aladdin’s Cave!
Steve Arloff
CD Reviews
AVID JAZZ AMSC 1133
