FunkFreak75 Donald's first album giving the reigns of both production and composition to NASA aerospace engineer Larry Mizell. (Larry has writing credit on all seven of the album's songs. Donald has none.) Larry and his 11-month-younger brother, Fonce, were both D.C. born graduates of Howard University: Larry in engineering, Fonce in music. The brothers had only moved out to California early in 1972, with the aim of starting their own record production company (Sky High Productions). Black Byrd was recorded on April 3rd and 4th at The Sound Factory in Hollywood, California though one other date was required (Nov. 24) before the album could be mastered (perhaps for the re-recording or overdubs to he album's title song: to give it that "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" sound and feel). It was released by the Blue Note label in February of 1973.

A1. "Flight Time" (8:30) a remnant from the previous album's recording sessions?--or perhaps something generated by the momentum established by those sessions. The music is more sedate, engineered more for the exposition of singular musicians, one at a time, at the front, with the rest of the band serving more in support roles, not garnering much attention. Even the solos from the lead instruments (trumpet and flute) are more linear and focused, less conversant, than the music on the rest of the album (and on successive albums)--until, that is, the fifth minute when everybody seems to have been given the green light to go, explore, show off (at least for a minute). It's nice but it also helps me to be appreciative of the busy and nuanced weaves of the band's future songs. The busy free for all has some of the same joi de vivre of Hugh Masakela's "Grazin' in the Grass." (17.5/20)

A2. "Black Byrd" (8:00) ominous funk from bass and synth with percussion and Fender Rhodes accents open this one before flutes and wah-wah-ed "Shaft"-like rhythm guitar joins in. Small male choir joins in near the beginning of the second minute talking about "walking along playing our song" while a muted horn and horn-like rhythm guitar squawk and converse between and behind the vocal passages. Truly revolutionary (as far as my experience goes--though there are reminisces here of the instrumental music rendered by The Temptations for their version of "Papa Was a Rolling Stone"--which was released in September! (13.75/15)

A3. "Love's So Far Away" (6:00) high quality, smooth-yet-rollicking and grooving funk-jazz with an awesome bass line (and style) that will be emulated by Les Nemes on one of my all-time favorite albums, HAIRCUT 100's Pelican West. (9.125/10)

B1. "Mr. Thomas" (5:15) nice full, complex, but not-too-busy, example of melodic jazz-funk. (8.875/10)

B2. "Sky High" (5:59) a song titled after Larry & Fonce's new music production company! Smooth melody lines over straightforward jazz-pop with some pretty adventurous bass walking from Chuck Rainey. This is definitely upbeat and happy music--and everybody contributing seems on board with this. Male choir enters in the second half with its background delivery of the usual hokey lyrics. Besides Chuck's awesome bass play, there are great performances here from all of the trumpeters and flutists as well as the rhythm guitarist, drummer, and keyboard players. (8.875/10)

B3. "Slop Jar Blues" (6:00) a nice, easy-going, Cosby Kids-like groove over which the winds and lead trumpeter and flutist have a great dialogue. I wonder if the solo voce "Slop Jar" lead vocalist is Donald, Fonce, or Freddie Perren. Another great engineered and mixed weave of instruments with Chuck Rainey's bass, the lead flute and trumpet, and the percussionists getting especially prominent treatment. (8.75/10)

B4. "Where Are We Going?" (4:40) the two-chord piano opening that proves to be the foundation for the rest of the song inspires (and supports) another great bass performance from Chuck Rainey while flutes, trumpets, and pianos play around within the mix. At 1:37 another singular male vocal performance starts that makes me wonder who it is. Motown-style b vox soon follow. Curiously, that's when Donald's trumpet really starts to fly around: in and between the vocals and recitations of the main melody from the flutes. There is a Classics IV/Atlanta Rhythm Section "Stormy" feel to the chords and melodies of the foundational progression. All in all it's a nice Smooth jazzed-up Soul/R&B song, despite its obvious references to other Motown classics (including Marvin Gaye's What's Going On?) (9.125/10)

Total Time: 43:17

By far the most melodic and pop-oriented music and album that Donald Byrd had released up to this time, I find it odd that an album so overwhelmingly dominated by one man and his production company's hired guns gets credited to the non-composing band leader instead of the principal generator of the finished product but such was the way of the music industry back in 1972/3. The shifts in both style and sound quality from Donald's previous release are so pronounced that one almost wants to ask if this is perhaps a different artist altogether--especially with respect to the list of musicians contributing to this album as compared to those on Ethiopian Knights: Wilton Felder, Joe Sample, and David T. Walker are present on Black Byrd, but, to what capacity as there are a whole host of other musicians present here filling in the same roles that the Jazz Crusaders were filling?

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of wonderfully-rendered blend of Smooth Jazz and Funk-Jazz.

Sean Trane As the booklet of the CD version of the album says: what to do after such an amazing album as Ethiopian Knights?? Do you soldier on in your explorations or do you repeat the formula?? Well it’s obvious that the first option is the more “artistic” one, but given the Black Byrd results, I’d wish Don had chosen the latter at least two times more before using the former. Indeed, a fusionhead like me cannot be anything but disappointed by the turn of events

Gone are almost (if not all) usual suspects of the Byrd partners-in-crime gang, but Don found some outstanding new playmates, like the Mizell bros, Mason or Glenn, and the results are quite fine, once the initial disappointment is over. Indeed, the soundscapes are much poppier than Byrd had ever dared before, and if standard-jazzheads had probably (read most likely) yelled ”Judas” or “sell-out” to Don with the ET album, I’m sure they’d wished to have saved it for BB. Notice that this Don Byrd period is more of a Mizell-era, since the vast majority (all) of the compositions is not Byrd-penned, but indeed Mizell-songs…. Soooo in a way, this was a blatant attempt at cashing in on Byrd’s prestige and fork–out some funky-pop stuff

But there are such impeccable tunes on this album, that a fusionhead cannot stay angry at don for any length of time, like the great but calm Flight Time (Glenn’s flute is a pure joy) and the very enthralling title track (sounding like Herbie’s Head Hunter album), but if this fusion-lover accepts 20-mins Emperor tracks, he finds that these 7-mins+ tracks a tad overstaying their welcome. Again a slight prejudice from my part, but I prefer instrumentals like Mr Thomas and the afore-mentioned two tracks, but outside the sappy Love’s So Far Away, most of the rest are fine with enough instrumental twist and interplay to please old curmudgeons like me.

Well, if you’re a fusion or standard-jazz fan, most likely you’ll not appreciate much this album (don’t get me wrong, there are still some very enjoyable moments on it), but then again, Byrd probably sold more albums during his funk-jazz era than in any other period in his life… So we can only do with such “understandable” reasons for selling-out… And let’s face it: EB is among the better album of the genre and probably the better one of his own attempts with Stepping Into Tomorrow, although I prefer the present