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Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II (December 9, 1932 – February 4, 2013) was an American jazz and rhythm & blues trumpeter, composer and vocalist. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd was one of the few hard bop musicians who successfully explored funk and soul while remaining a jazz artist. As a bandleader, Byrd was an influence on the early career of Herbie Hancock and many others.
Byrd's first regular group was a quintet that he co-led from 1958 to 1961 with baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams. The ensemble's hard-driving performances are captured live on At the Half Note Cafe. Byrd's 1961 LP Royal Flush was Hancock's Blue Note debut. Hancock has credited Byrd as a key influence in his early career, recounting that Byrd took the young pianist "under his wing" when he was a struggling musician newly arrived in New York, even letting him sleep on a hide-a-bed in his Bronx apartment for several years.
Hancock also recalled that Byrd helped him in many other ways: he encouraged Hancock to make his debut album for Blue Note, connected him with Mongo Santamaria, who turned Hancock's tune "Watermelon Man" into a chart-topping hit, and that Byrd also later urged him to accept Miles Davis' offer to join his quintet.
Hancock also credits Byrd with giving him one of the most important pieces of advice of his career – not to give away his publishing rights. When Blue Note offered Hancock the chance to record his first solo LP, label executives tried to convince him to relinquish his publishing in exchange for being able to record the album, but he stuck to Byrd's advice and refused, so the meeting came to an impasse. At this point, he stood up to leave and when it became clear that he was about to walk out, the executives relented and allowed him to retain his publishing. Thanks to Santamaria's subsequent hit cover version of "Watermelon Man", Hancock was soon receiving substantial royalties, and he used his first royalty check of $6,000 to buy his first car, a 1963 Shelby Cobra (also recommended by Byrd) which Hancock still owns, and which is now the oldest production Cobra still in its original owner's hands.Tom Cotter, "The Watermelon Man and the Cobra", Road & Track magazine, August 2007
In June 1964, Byrd played with Eric Dolphy in Paris only two weeks before Dolphy died from insulin shock.
In 1973, he helped to establish and co-produce the Blackbyrds, a fusion group consisting of then-student musicians from Howard University, where Byrd taught in the music department and earned his Juris Doctor in 1976. They scored several major hits including "Happy Music" (No. 3 R&B, No. 19 pop), "Walking in Rhythm" (No. 4 R&B, No. 6 pop) and "Rock Creek Park".
During his tenure at North Carolina Central University during the 1980s, he formed a group which included students from the college called the "125th St NYC Band". They recorded three albums; Love Byrd and Words, Sounds, Colors and Shapes which featured Isaac Hayes. "Love Has Come Around" on Love Byrd became a disco hit, reaching number No. 4 on Billboard's U.S. Dance Club Songs and in the UK and reached No. 41 on the charts.
Beginning in the 1960s, Byrd (who eventually gained his PhD in music education from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1982) taught at a variety of postsecondary institutions, including Rutgers University, the Hampton Institute, New York University, Howard University, Queens College, Oberlin College, Cornell University, North Carolina Central University and Delaware State University. Dr. Donald Byrd Named Artist in Residence , DSU Press Release, September 4, 2009. Byrd returned to somewhat straight-ahead jazz later in his career, recording three albums for Orrin Keepnews' Landmark Records. Byrd was named a NEA Jazz Master in 2000.
Byrd was a resident of Teaneck, New Jersey. He died on February 4, 2013, in Dover, Delaware, at age 80.
| 1955-08 | Byrd Jazz | Transition | 1956 | Live |
| 1955-09 | Byrd's Word | Savoy Records | 1956 | |
| 1955-12 | Byrd's Eye View | Transition | 1956 | |
| 1956-05 | Byrd Blows on Beacon Hill | Transition | 1957 | |
| 1956-08 | 2 Trumpets with Art Farmer | Prestige Records | 1957 | |
| 1956-11 | The Young Bloods with Phil Woods | Prestige | 1957 | |
| 1957-02, 1957-03 | Jazz Lab with Gigi Gryce | Columbia | 1957 | |
| 1957-08 | At Newport with Gigi Gryce and Cecil Taylor | Verve Records | 1958 | Live |
| 1957-07, 1957-08 | New Formulas from the Jazz Lab with Gigi Gryce | Vik | 1982 | |
| 1957-08 | Jazz Lab with Gigi Gryce | Jubilee Records | 1958 | |
| 1957-08, 1957-09 | Modern Jazz Perspective with Gigi Gryce | Columbia | 1957 | |
| 1957-09 | Jazz Eyes | Regent | 1957 | |
| 1957-? | September Afternoon with Clare Fischer | Discovery | 1982 | "Donald Byrd With Clare Fischer – September Afternoon". Discogs. Retrieved November 2, 2023. |
| 1958-10 | Byrd In Paris | Brunswick | 1958 | |
| 1958-10 | Parisian Thoroughfare | Brunswick | 1958 | |
| 1958-12 | Off to the Races | Blue Note | 1959 | |
| 1959-05 | Byrd in Hand | Blue Note | 1959 | |
| 1959-10 | Fuego | Blue Note | 1960 | |
| 1960-01, 1960-07 | Byrd in Flight | Blue Note | 1960 | |
| 1960 | Motor City Scene with Pepper Adams | Bethlehem | 1961 | |
| 1960-11 | At the Half Note Cafe | Blue Note | 1960 | Live |
| 1961-04 | Chant | Blue Note | 1979 | LT series |
| 1961-05 | The Cat Walk | Blue Note | 1962 | |
| 1961-09 | Royal Flush | Blue Note | 1962 | |
| 1961-12 | Free Form | Blue Note | 1966 | |
| 1963-01 | A New Perspective | Blue Note | 1964 | |
| 1964-10, 1964-11, 1964-12 | Up with Donald Byrd | Verve | 1965 | |
| 1964-12 | I'm Tryin' to Get Home | Blue Note | 1965 | |
| 1966-06 | Mustang | Blue Note | 1967 | |
| 1967-01 | Blackjack | Blue Note | 1968 | |
| 1967-05 | Slow Drag | Blue Note | 1968 | |
| 1967-10 | The Creeper | Blue Note | 1981 | LT series |
| 1969-05, 1969-06 | Fancy Free | Blue Note | 1970 | |
| 1970-05 | Electric Byrd | Blue Note | 1970 | |
| 1969-12, 1970-12 | Kofi | Blue Note | 1995 | |
| 1971-08 | Ethiopian Knights | Blue Note | 1972 | |
| 1972-04 | Black Byrd | Blue Note | 1973 | |
| 1973-06 | Street Lady | Blue Note | 1974 | |
| 1973-07 | Blue Note | 2022 | Live | |
| 1974-11, 1974-12 | Stepping into Tomorrow | Blue Note | 1975 | |
| 1975-08 | Places and Spaces | Blue Note | 1975 | |
| 1976-04, 1976-05 | Caricatures | Blue Note | 1976 | |
| 1978-02 – 1978-07 | Thank You...For F.U.M.L. (Funking Up My Life) | Elektra Records | 1978 | |
| 1979-08, 1979-09 | Donald Byrd and 125th Street, N.Y.C. | Elektra | 1979 | |
| 1981? | Love Byrd | Elektra | 1981 | |
| 1982 | Words, Sounds, Colors and Shapes | Elektra | 1982 | |
| 1987-09 | Harlem Blues | Landmark Records | 1988 | |
| 1989-10 | Getting Down to Business | Landmark | 1990 | |
| 1991-01 | A City Called Heaven | Landmark | 1991 |
With Kenny Burrell
With Paul Chambers
With Sonny Clark
With Kenny Clarke
With John Coltrane
With Eric Dolphy
With Lou Donaldson
With Red Garland
With Dexter Gordon
With Guru
With Hank Jones
With Hank Mobley
With Jackie McLean
With Duke Pearson
With Oscar Pettiford
With Sonny Rollins
With Horace Silver
With Jimmy Smith
With George Wallington
With others
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