Donald Byrd/Pepper Adams Quintet Project w/Dale Fielder

Born in Detroit, Byrd collaborated with Yusef Lateef, Pepper Adams and other local jazz artists before serving in the Air Force and received a B.A. in music from Wayne State University as well as an M.A. in music education from the Manhattan School of Music. Honing his craft playing with Art Blakey, Max Roach, Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane, among others, he recorded for Prestige from 1956 until signing with Blue Note in 1958. Byrd’s first full-time band was a quintet he co-led from 1958-61 with Pepper Adams, an ensemble whose hard driving performances are captured “live” on At The Half Note Café, Vols. 1 & 2.

Byrd made several memorable albums as a leader for Blue Note through 1967 and then began to distance himself from the acoustic funk of the East Coast’s hard bop movement and move towards the West Coast funk being popularized at that time by the Jazz Crusaders. In 1969 he recorded Fancy Free, which featured electric keyboards and guitar, and his music took a decidedly commercial turn during the 1970s. Before leaving Blue Note in 1978, Byrd was releasing albums whose rhythms and vocals mirrored the dance oriented music of that era typified by Earth Wind & Fire, The Ohio Players, the Brothers Johnson and other pop bands.

He has taught music at Rutgers University, the Hampton Institute, New York University, Howard University, and Oberlin College. In 1974 he created the Blackbyrds, a fusion group consisting of his best students. They scored several major hits, including “Walking In Rhythm” and “Blackbyrds Theme