Donald Byrd And 125th Street, N.Y.C. - Love Byrd (1981) [2007, Remastered Reissue]
R&B, Jazz, Soul, Jazz-Funk, Disco | EAC Rip | FLAC, Img+CUE+LOG+Scans (PNG) | 42:17 | 296,99 Mb
Label: Elektra/Wounded Bird Records (USA) | Cat.# WOU 6531 | Released: 2007-07-16 (1981)
Recorded in 1981 and produced by Isaac Hayes, trumpeter and composer Donald Byrd's first recording for Elektra is the sound of a musician who has truly lost his way. Byrd's nearly decade-long collaboration with the Mizell Brothers ended when he left Blue Note for Elektra. It wasn't so much that Byrd left "jazz" for funk and proto-disco, the latter elements had been part of his sound since 1972 with Black Byrd (some would say the real transition to more R&B based music began before that with Fancy Free in 1965). The period with the Mizells, though decried by jazz critics everywhere as a sellout, was a fertile one for Byrd creatively and married his vision of being a viable and accessible artist, one who sought out the direct experience of soul and funk as a way of getting his music across. It was also a successful one commercially - his albums sold to a wider audience and were played on commercial FM radio.