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wikipedia info about Mr. Byrd
Early life and education
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Byrd attended Cass
Technical High School. He performed with
Lionel Hampton before finishing high school.
After playing in a military band during a
term in the United States Air Force, he
obtained a bachelor's degree in music from
Wayne State University and a master's degree
from Manhattan School of Music.
Playing career
While still at the Manhattan School he joined
Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, replacing
Clifford Brown. In 1955, he recorded with
Jackie McLean and Mal Waldron. After leaving
the Jazz Messengers in 1956 he performed with
a wide variety of highly regarded jazz
musicians, including John Coltrane, Sonny
Rollins, Herbie Hancock, and Thelonious Monk.
In June 1964, Byrd jammed with jazz legend
Eric Dolphy in Paris just two weeks before
Dolphy's tragic death from insulin shock.
In the 1970s, he moved away from his previous
hard-bop jazz base and began to record jazz
fusion, Jazz-funk, soul-Jazz, and rhythm and
blues. Teaming up with the Mizell Brothers,
they produced Black Byrd, which was
enormously successful and became Blue Note
Records' highest-ever selling album. The
Mizell Brothers follow-up production albums
for Byrd, Places and Spaces, Steppin' Into
Tomorrow and Street Lady were also big
sellers, and have subsequently provided a
rich source of samples for acid jazz artists
such as Us3.
In 1993, Byrd teamed up with Gang Starr MC
Guru for the track "Loungin'" on the
Jazzmatazz project.
As a music educator
He has taught music at Rutgers University,
the Hampton Institute, New York University,
Howard University, and Oberlin College. In
1974 he created the Blackbyrds, a fusion
group consisting of his best students. They
scored several major hits including "Rock
Creek Park", "Walking In Rhythm" and
"Blackbyrds Theme".
Byrd lives in Teaneck, New Jersey.
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