Donald Byrd, Live at Montreux July 5, 1973
February 25 2013
As a special tribute to this Jazz Immortal and as a gift to the legions of aficionados who, like all of us at Blue Note Records, treasure the music he's left behind, we are honored to present - for the first time - Donald Byrd, Live at Montreux from July 5, 1973.As teenagers in Detroit during the 1960s, my friends and I regarded Donald Byrd with the same lofty respect reserved for other hometown musical heroes like Smokey Robinson, The MC5, Elvin Jones, Mitch Ryder, Aretha Franklin and John Lee Hooker....they were all amazing artists who were changing the face of music by exporting the sounds of our city to the rest of the world. The music of Donald Byrd was ubiquitous back then...cats like the legendary Motor City jazz disc jockey, Ed Love, would hit tracks like "Nai Nai" from "Free Form" and "Christo Redentor" from "A New Perspective" on a nightly basis...Later on, in the 1970s, Mr. Byrd started adding a healthy dose of Detroit-style funk to his records and his innovative music could be heard blasting out of dashboard mounted 8 track players and back seat subwoofers all over town...He was a Motor City Trumpet Revolutionary and his timeless music will never be forgotten.
Shortly after Mr. Byrd's passing on February 4th, we got an email from the noted British music icon, Gilles Petersen, inquiring about a legendary performance from 1973's Montreux Jazz Festival. Blue Note's Curator-In-Chief, Michael Cuscuna, told us that it had, indeed, been recorded and subsequently mixed for release by Bob Belden in 1999. Inexplicably, it has remained hidden in the Blue Note vaults - until now. The tapes are wonderful and reveal a far more raw and gritty side to Donald Byrd's 70's music than his studio recordings might suggest....
As a special tribute to this Jazz Immortal and as a gift to the legions of aficionados who, like all of us at Blue Note Records, treasure the music he's left behind, we are honored to present - for the first time - Donald Byrd, Live at Montreux from July 5, 1973.
—Don Was
President, Blue Note Records
Personnel:
Donald Byrd, Trumpet, Fluegelhorn, Vocals; Fonce Mizell, Trumpet, Vocals; Allan Barnes, Tenor Sax, Flute; Nathan Davis, Tenor Sax, Soprano Sax; Kevin Toney, Electric Piano; Larry Mizell, Synthesizer; Barney Perry, Electric Guitar; Henry Franklin, Electric Bass; Keith Killgo, Drums, Vocals; Ray Armando, Conga, Percussion.
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Donald Byrd/Nathan Davis
in Montreux (1973)
Donald Byrd in Montreux, Switzerland, on July 5, 1973
Unfortunately it is true. Jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd passed on February 4, 2013. I would like to pay tribute to the man and his music, so I just uploaded nearly half an hour of video from the archives, showing the Donald Byrd/Nathan Davis group at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, on July 5, 1973. I am not too well versed in Byrd’s repertoire of that time, so if anyone knows what is played here, it would be nice if you could tell me. According to Tom Lord’s Jazz Discography, the concert was recorded by Blue Note – but never issued. Lord gives the following titles: “Poco-mania”, “You’ve got it bad, girl”, “Untitled no. 3″, “Black Byrd” and “Flight time”. So maybe someone knows how this fits together. I chopped the video into three parts. The video was partly not in synch and this made it easier for me to bring it into synch again.
You will be hearing and seeing: Donald Byrd (tp,flhrn) Fonce Mizell (tp) Allan Barnes (fl,ts) Nathan Davis (sop,ts) Larry Mizell (synt) Kevin Toney (el-p) Barney Perry (el-g) Henry Franklin (el-b) Keith Killgo (d,vcl) Ray Armando (cga,perc)
Donald Byrd at Jazz Festival Montreux 1973. Please also visit my blog: http://crownpropeller.wordpress.com
In part 2 the band is playing “Black Byrd” (thanks to Ehsan Khoshbakt for identifying the title)