# Fancy Free Donald Byrd. These artists included Horace Silver, Lee Morgan, Grant Green, Herbie Hancock and many others: Videos, Photos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2018/03/11/fancy-free-donald-byrd-these-artists-included-horace-silver-lee-morgan-grant-green-herbie-hancock-and-many-others-videos-photos/
- Published: 2018-03-11T11:08:10+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Mention the 1970s to jazz fans and many will think of the jazz-rock fusion movement.**

Bands then that united jazz and the rock guitar and other electric instruments included
Tony Williams Lifetime, Chick Corea’s Return to Forever, Miles Davis, Weather Report,
Larry Coryell’s Eleventh House and the Mahavishnu Orchestra to name just a few.

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 But fusion wasn’t the only jazz-
hybrid movement emerging in the post-Woodstock ’70s. Another jazz genre took its
cues from the Stax label under the direction of Al Bell, Sly Stone, James Brown,
Kool and the Gang, the Ohio Players and other electric funk artists popular in African-
American communities and on black radio. One of several jazz artists who pioneered
this soulful electric jazz-funk fusion was Donald Byrd. [Photo above of Rufus Thomas,
who recorded for Stax]

[⌊Screen Shot 2018-01-21 at 9.58.57 PM⌉⌊Screen Shot 2018-01-21 at 9.58.57 PM⌉[
 Last time
I posted on Byrd, I focused on his album _Fuego_ (1959), a hard-bop masterpiece.
During the early and mid-1960s, Byrd’s albums for Blue Note moved in the same general
direction as many other artists who succeeded by combining R&B, funk and the riff-
heavy boogaloo. These artists included Horace Silver, Lee Morgan, Grant Green, Herbie
Hancock, the Jazz Crusaders and many others.

[⌊Screen Shot 2018-01-21 at 9.45.58 PM⌉⌊Screen Shot 2018-01-21 at 9.45.58 PM⌉[
 But by 1969,
Byrd shifted gears once again by integrating electronic instruments and adding a
strong drum beat and percussion, which not only helped him transition to a younger
African-American audience but also put him in play at parties and club dance floors.
Unlike rock fusion, which was popular with sit-down audiences in college dorm rooms
and events, Byrd focused more on grooves and beats, accompanying them on his trumpet
rather than being driven by them.

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 This dynamic period in
Byrd’s career began in 1969 with the recording of _Fancy Free,_ an album decades
ahead of its time. It sounds fresh today, and young artists still sample it. There
were only four tracks, two on each side—Byrd’s _Fancy Free_ and _I Love the Girl,_
and Mitch Farber’s _The Uptowner_ and Charles Hendricks’ _Weasil._

[⌊Screen Shot 2018-01-21 at 9.48.03 PM⌉⌊Screen Shot 2018-01-21 at 9.48.03 PM⌉[
 The album
was recorded over two sessions. The collective personnel was Donald Byrd (tp), Frank
Foster (ts), Julian Priester (b), Lew Tabackin and Jerry Dodgion (fl), Duke Pearson(
elec-p), Jimmy Ponder (g), Roland Wilson (b), Joe Chambers and Idris Muhammad, (
d) and Nat Bettis and John H. Robinson Jr.(perc).

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 Fancy Free
 is an upbeat but mellow
Latin-jazz track showcasing the conga and Dodgion’s beautiful flute. I Love the 
Girl is a precious ballad dominated by Pearson on the Fender Rhodes electric piano
and Byrd. The Uptowner is a gorgeous funky boogaloo with Byrd, Foster and Priester.
Weasil grooves at roughly the same tempo with the same instrumental line-up but 
a loud flat snare by Joe Chambers that foreshadows the drum sample 10 years later.
Byrd’s horn stands out on all tracks, ruminating on the slower songs and heating
up on the uptempo groovers.

[⌊Screen Shot 2018-01-21 at 9.51.18 PM⌉⌊Screen Shot 2018-01-21 at 9.51.18 PM⌉[
 Interestingly,
a third session was recorded for this album, featuring Byrd (tp), Kenny Rupp (fhr),
Al Gibbons (fl), Gary Campbell (ts), Duke Pearson (el-p), Wally Richardson (g), 
Bob Cranshaw (el-b), Freddie Waits (d), Roland Wilson (cga), and three vocalists.
Three songs were recorded—_Now Steady_ (with the horns out), _Yano_ and _Congo_ (
an instrumental). It may have been Byrd’s call. All three were rejected by Blue 
Note, most likely because they didn’t come together as planned. With the album two
songs short, I suspect the four songs they already had in the can were then allowed
to run in full rather than be cut down to make room for two others that were out
of character with what they had. Thankfully, since the album works perfectly as 
is.

[⌊Screen Shot 2018-01-21 at 9.52.41 PM⌉⌊Screen Shot 2018-01-21 at 9.52.41 PM⌉[
 Between 
_Fancy Free_ in 1969 and _Words, Sounds, Colors and Shapes_ in 1983, Byrd’s albums
grew increasingly fascinating in the electronic jazz-funk space. During this period,
Byrd probably hit his commercial peak with _Places and Spaces_ in 1975, which hit#
1 on Billboard’s jazz alum chart, #6 on the R&B chart and #49 on the pop chart. 
As a producer, his biggest success was The Blackbyrds’ _Walking in Rhythm_ in 1974,
featured on the group’s _Flying Start_ album. It reached No. 6 on Billboard’s Hot
100. For those who may have forgotten it: “Walking in rhythm / moving in sound /
Humming to the music / trying to move on,” etc.

[⌊Screen Shot 2018-01-21 at 9.54.07 PM⌉⌊Screen Shot 2018-01-21 at 9.54.07 PM⌉[
 Yesterday,
I had great fun crossing the jazz-funk cosmos listening to all of Byrd’s jazz-funk
albums on this list:

 * _Fancy Free_ (1969)
 * _Electric Byrd_ (1969–70)
 * _Kofi_ (1969)
 * _Ethiopian Knights_ (1971)
 * _Black Byrd_ (1973)
 * _Street Lady_ (1973)
 * _Stepping into Tomorrow_ (1974)
 * _Places and Spaces_ (1975)
 * _Caricatures_ (1976)
 * _Thank You…For F.U.M.L. (Funking Up My Life)_ (1978)
 * _Donald Byrd and 125th Street, N.Y.C._ (1979)
 * _Love Byrd_ (1981)
 * _Words, Sounds, Colors and Shapes_ (1983)

All of them are superb, with different grooves and feels. Freddie Hubbard also was
pioneering this space around the same time. I’ll turn to him soon.

Donald Byrd died in 2013.

![Screen Shot 2018-01-21 at 9.37.04 PM](http://marcmyers.typepad.com/.a/6a00e008dca1f0883401b8d2d215d3970c-
500wi)

**The title track, with Frank Foster, Julian Priester, Donald Byrd and Jerry Dodgion
taking solos…**

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