Donal Byrd Doug Watkins

This CD compilation collects three separate sessions recorded by Donald Byrd and Doug Watkins for Transition with various small groups. The 1955 recordings (first issued under the title Byrd's Eye View) were made shortly after Byrd replaced Kenny Dorham in the Jazz Messengers, all of whom (Horace Silver, Art Blakey, and Hank Mobley, along with Byrd and Watkins) are present, with the addition of local trumpeter Joe Gordon as a guest on two tracks. The half-dozen songs mix an improvised blues ("Doug's Blues"), a favorite from the swing era ("Crazy Rhythm"), a ballad feature for Byrd and Mobley ("Everything Happens to Me"), plus a pair of potent hard bop pieces contributed by the tenor saxophonist…

AVID Jazz is proud to introduce an exciting new addition to our Four Classic Album series, Four Classic Jazz Instrumentalists. We continue with Four Classic Jazz Bassists, a re-mastered 2CD set complete with original artwork, liner notes and personnel details.

Alphonse Mouzon, Ronnie Laws, Donal Byrd - Blue Note Live At The Roxy Vol. 1 (1976) {2012 Japanese BNLA Series TOCJ-50533}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 313 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 112 Mb
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© 1976, 2012 Blue Note / EMI Music Japan | TOCJ-50533
Jazz / Hard Bop / Post Bop / Soul Jazz / Jazz Funk

An overlooked gem from Blue Note – a special live performance that brings together some of the label's funkiest and most soulful artists of the 70s! The set's somewhat unusual for Blue Note at the time – especially given the label's increasingly studio-driven approach to jazz, with projects by the Mizell Brothers and others – yet given that bent, the whole thing's a great illustration of the vibrancy of all these artists always from the studio – playing live and extremely funky!

Doug Watkins Quintet - Soulnik (1960) {Prestige–New Jazz OJCCD-1848-2 rel 1994}
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© 1960, 1994 Prestige / New Jazz / Fantasy / OJC | OJCCD-1848-2
Jazz / Hard Bop / Cello

Bassist Doug Watkins only led two recording sessions before his death in 1962, and this set (which was cut for New Jazz and reissued on CD in the OJC series) has sometimes appeared under Yusef Lateef's name. Watkins doubles on cello (an instrument he had reportedly only begun playing three days earlier) during the set with Lateef (who triples on tenor, flute, and oboe), pianist Hugh Lawson, bassist Herman Wright, and drummer Lex Humphries. The quintet performs three standards, Watkins' "Andre's Bag," and a couple of Lateef tunes. The use of oboe and cello on some numbers makes the date stand out a bit from the usual hard bop sessions of the period and straight-ahead jazz fans will want to get this CD.

Trumpeter Thad Jones receives first billing on this all-star outing, but vibraphonist Teddy Charles, who contributed three of the six selections (two of the other songs are by pianist Mal Waldron, while the lone standard is "Embraceable You") was really the musical director. Jones, Charles, and Waldron are joined by Frank Wess (doubling on tenor and flute), bassist Doug Watkins, and drummer Elvin Jones for a set of modern hard bop. Although this was not a regular group and there is not an obvious leader, the music is on a higher level than that of a routine jam session. The challenging material and the high quality playing of the young greats makes this fairly obscure modern mainstream set well worth exploring.

Donald Byrd - Byrd's Eye View (1955) {Transition Japan TOCJ-5886 rel 1994}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 205 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 103 Mb
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© 1955, 1994 Transition / Toshiba-EMI Japan | TOCJ-5886
Jazz / Hard Bop / Trumpet

For all intents and purposes, a Jazz Messengers session issued under Donald Byrd's name, Byrd's Eye View, captures the young trumpeter in full command of his estimable powers – the visceral intensity of this music is remarkable, galvanized by the typically stellar playing of drummer Art Blakey, pianist Horace Silver, tenorist Hank Mobley, and bassist Doug Watkins. Fellow trumpeter Joe Gordon pushes Byrd to new extremes – his solos are as physical as a heavyweight boxer yet as graceful as a ballerina. And despite the length and scope of the tracks, Byrd remains in complete control, performing with an authority and technical prowess that belie his age.

This Prestige date recorded in January 1957, finds guitarist Kenny Burrell with Donald Byrd, Frank Foster, Tommy Flanagan, Doug Watkins, and Arthur Taylor in a excellent jam session setting.