DONALD BYRD — Black Byrd (review)

DONALD BYRD — Black Byrd album cover Album · 1973 · Funk Jazz Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
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
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