js Just as psychedelics had swept through the world of rock-n-roll in the 60s, it also eventually influenced the world of jazz too, albeit a few years later. This mixture of jazz fusion and psychedelia sometimes resulted in some interesting music, Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in particular were able to use electronic effects to enhance their early 70s albums, but then there were albums by other artists that were proof that all the electro gizmos in the world could not save mediocre music. In fact, if the artist was leaning too heavily on the electronic effects to save his album, that only made such effects all the more cheezy and annoying, which brings us to Donald Byrd’s unfortunate “Electric Byrd”. The album title alone lets you know that they are hoping the word ‘electric’ will help sell the album.

Donald Byrd came on strong in the late 50s as a rising star in the world of hard bop. He cut records with some of the best, including Quincy Jones, Phil Woods, Herbie Hancock, Pepper Adams and many more. As the earning power of jazz began to dwindle, Byrd spent the rest of his career involved more in RnB, dance, pop and fusion, whatever helped pay the bills. So it came to pass in 1970 that Miles Davis got a huge promotional push from Columbia for his “Bitches Brew” album, and the dollars came rolling in. Not to be outdone, Byrd bought himself an echo machine, plugged in his trumpet and recorded “Electric Byrd“, but he forgot an important step, writing some memorable material that’s worth recording.

The opening track on “Electric Byrd” is probably the best track on the album. Here we have a laid back African groove that sounds like a cross between Sun Ra and Lonnie Liston Smith, and the effects are not too overbearing. It’s the second, and closing track on this side where things go very wrong. Here we have Ron Carter walking the bass over a simple two chord blues vamp. This is the kind of music musicians play late at night when they are too tired to play a real song. Also, walking the bass is a great technique, but it sounds like a total anachronism against all the needless psychedelic effects. In among the ‘go nowhere solo noodling’, some sax player starts shrieking, but it seems more out of boredom and frustration than inspiration. The drummer tries to go into double time, but its too late, the others have nodded off, or just don’t care anymore.

Side two opens with echoed trumpet screams that sound like a direct rip of “Miles Runs the Voodoo Down”. This track recovers for a bit with a nice Latin melody and groove from Airto, but then someone starts messing with the echo on the electric piano and the rhythm gets swamped with sludgy echo syrup. Closing track, “The Dude”, cans all the effects and goes for a decent funky soul jazz riff in a style that Byrd will be picking up soon after he ditches all the psychedelic crap. Its an okay track, but it seems like an odd fit with the other three cuts, possibly it was originally meant for a different album.

There are some okay moments on here, particularly opener “Estavanico”, but much of the rest of this album is best appreciated as hippie kitsch from an age of not-so-innocent indulgence.

FunkFreak75 Recorded on May 15, 1970, Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, we see with this album Donald's deeper dive into a commitment to both electric instrumentation with the prominent featuring of electric bass (from experienced jazz bassist Ron Carter, a man that did not stick with it for very long despite his electric bass play being very highly in demand) heavily-effected electric guitar and new special effects used on several of the other instruments in order to add a new "psychedelic" pastiche to his music. Also, Donald is here effectively using melody lines that intentionally fall out of line with the foundational keys and scales they're generally used in, giving the music a strongly disorienting, even "drugged" feeling. The album was released by Blue Note in November.

A1. "Estavanico" (11:00) for this song's first seven minutes Rudy Van Gelder convinces Donald and his crew to pull out all the stops on reality-based music: bending, distorting, panning, pitch-shifting all kinds of tracks while Donald, for his part, convinces his musicians to slip in some "off" or "sour" notes from time to time as if to prove or at least amplify the "drugged out" state being expressed in the music. The musicians who seem to be having the most trouble "fitting in" to the new style are experienced bassist Ron Carter and saxophonist Frank Foster; the rest seem to fall easily into the act of being under hallucinagenic sedation--especially the awesome flutes and percussionists. A pretty cool, bold, and successful foray into the counter culture. (17.75/20)

A2. "Essence" (10:30) late night jazz with some electrified accoutrements: walking bass, electric piano, and electric guitar. The sound effects added to the recording of the flute and cool drumming style provide some of the more interesting elements to the song. As experienced as Ron Carter was at this time, you'd think he'd have done a better job of finding his place in the groove; as it is he just feels lost and out of his element. Jerry Dodgion's heavily-effected (echoed) sax is interesting as is the berimbau and echoed trumpet and other percussives. The muted electric guitar is totally weird and irritating--even when the echo effect is applied to it. Could this have been the one and only take of a poorly rehearsed composition? (17.25/20)

B1. "Xibaba" (13:35) to me this is the album's most interesting song because of the fact that there is so much space in it--space with which to take in every sound and echo, every jingle and jangle, every electric piano chord and At the same time there is this rather heroic presence of the self-proclaiming, screaming (and echoing) trumpet. It feels as if the conquering young Spanish-Roman hero has returned, alone, to his home town, with all the excitement of fresh victory bursting to be shared, but when he reaches the normally-peopled public places he finds them empty, the city desolate, his cries echoing off of the stone walls of the empty open places, hallways and streets and edifices. The structure formed at the end of the fifth minute merely suggests the hero's more resolute walk around the streets and alleys as he fixes to his determination to find people--find his family and friends--but all he finds are ghosts and reverberations of his own echoing voice. I find this song intriguing as it heartily feeds my own imagination's tendency to visualize and storyboard the music I hear. For me, this song is more about impressions than technical prowess or sophistication. (27/30)

B2. "The Dude" (8:00) a suped up song that sounds as if it came from the overdubbing of a Motown foundational track. The R&B is strong with this one, Obi-wan. Though the "Motown" rhythm section remains tight and the soloists dancing lightly over the top sensitive, respectful, and creative, the song really doesn't do enough over the long run to make it memorable. (13/15)

Total Time: 43:48

I have to say that I respect Donald Byrd, now almost age 40, for his adventurousness. I also love the fact that engineer and recording studio owner Rudy Van Gelder was able to remain so fascinated with and invested in the latest greatest technological advancements in sound recording and engineering. The two coupled with a cast and crew who were at least able to try--to go along with their leader and producer's weird and whimsical requests (orders)--despite their own training, predilections and reservations. Many people look back upon the experiments and fumbles into the world of "psychedelics" as a laughable mistake--many with regrets--but I like it: it is all so entertaining (and nostalgic).

B/four stars; an excellent second and further sortie into the world of electronic sound manipulation--one that definitely qualifies as a pulsating representative of the First Wave of Jazz-Rock Fusion.

Sean Trane This is Byrd’s second most stunning album after the extraordinary Ethiopian Knights release that would come chronologically after the present Electric Byrd. But this album is hard to separate from the Kofi posthumous release, since these EB tracks are taken from the same or surrounding two sessions as Kofi’s and you’ll find quasi the same line-ups on both, although there are more horn players on the present.

Opening on Richardson’s guitar feedbacks and Airto’s percussions, the 11-mins Estavanico is a slow-evolving with some delicious flute and trumpet parts, giving an evident Ellington-feel at first, but evolving into some wild Mwandishi-worthy groovy solos later on. On the slow essence piece, Airto opens up with African percussions, before the piece evolves into a slow-paced affair where gentle electric guitar wails and sumptuous trumpet interventions before settling in a infernal groove. The Airto-penned Xibaba opens on an echoplexed trumpet over some more Airto percussions, before developing into a bossa beat, where Ron Carter discuss things musically with Airto, before slowly descending into Byrd’s echoplexed trumpet interventions. To be honest, I’m wondering whether if this album is not Moreira’s finest moment, much more so than in Weather Report or Return to Forever or solo albums. The closing Dude track is a much louder and not-so delicate affair, set over a solid, sturdy up-tempo groove, but the solos are more conventional as well. IMHO, the slightly weaker track on an otherwise stellar album.

When listening to such an advanced album like EB and comparing it to the Kofi posthumous release, it’s a little strange that the fairly traditional Blue Note label decided to scrap those specific Kofi tracks from the same or surrounding sessions as EB’s, because they’re just as good, if not a tad better. Anyway, if Kofi would have to wait 25 years, EB was there to witness Byrd’s fast developing techniques, which would summit for the awesome Ethiopian Knights album. Make no mistake, though; this one is no-less essential to fusionheads.