Good morning.

Today we’re listening to Donald Byrd, an American jazz trumpeter from Detroit. Coming up in New York in the ‘50s, he collaborated with artists like John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk, and mentored a young Herbie Hancock.1 From the ‘50s to the ‘70s Byrd released over twenty albums on Blue Note Records. We’ve selected two of those records for today. Fancy Free, released in 1969, is a jam album and saw Byrd incorporating electric piano for the first time. Free Form, from 1961, is a more traditional jazz record and features Hancock on piano and Wayne Shorter on sax.

Fancy Free - Donald Byrd (40m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Free Form - Donald Byrd (40m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Have a really nice Thursday.