Music
Donald Byrd
1932–2013 · jazz trumpeter, bandleader, educator
Detroit-born hard-bop trumpeter, a product of Cass Tech and Wayne State, who later fused jazz with funk and soul on the hit album Black Byrd.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
Dover, Delaware
aged 80- Birth name
- Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II
- Detroit years
- 1932–1955
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Donald Byrd was born in Detroit, the son of a Methodist minister, and came up through the city's celebrated public-school music programs at Cass Technical High School. Still a teenager, he made his first professional recording in 1949 at Detroit's Fortune Records with the Robert Barnes Sextette. After playing in an Air Force band he earned a music degree at Wayne State University, and with fellow Detroiters Kenny Burrell, Pepper Adams, Elvin Jones and Yusef Lateef he formed the New World Music Society, a musicians' collective. In 1955 he moved to New York, where he replaced Clifford Brown in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and became a mainstay of Blue Note Records, often alongside Pepper Adams. An influential teacher, he helped launch Herbie Hancock's career, and in the 1970s his jazz-funk album Black Byrd became one of Blue Note's best sellers.
Highlights
- First professional recording at Fortune Records, Detroit (1949)
- Long partnership with fellow Detroiter Pepper Adams
- Black Byrd (1973) became a Blue Note best seller
- Early mentor of Herbie Hancock
- NEA Jazz Master (2000)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 3
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1940s
Cass Technical High School
Detroit's selective public high school, famed for its music program. The historic building he attended was replaced by a new one in 2005.
Studied here · early 1950s
Wayne State University
He earned his bachelor's degree in music here after his Air Force service.
Recorded here · 1949
Fortune Records
Closed
Independent Detroit label where he made his first professional recording, with the Robert Barnes Sextette.