A leading figure in bop, trumpeter Donald Byrd found greater success by merging jazz with soul and funk. In the '50s, Byrd played with some of the biggest names in jazz, including John Coltrane, but focused on teaching in the mid-'60s. By the following decade, he was exploring fusion and funk with his group, The Blackbyrds. Critics hated the new direction, but Byrd enjoyed R&B chart hits in the U.S. throughout the decade. By the '80s, Byrd had returned to teaching and his hard bop roots, while enjoying the response of a new audience who had discovered his '70s hits through hip-hop samples.