Donald Byrd Essentials

Detroit-born trumpeter Donald Byrd emerged as a key instigator in jazz's move to hard bop through the mid-'50s and early '60s. He recorded with the likes of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Sonny Rollins, and John Coltrane while introducing a young pianist by the name of Herbie Hancock on the 1961 Blue Note release Royal Flush. However, in the '70s, he dramatically reinvented himself as a funk hitmaker, applying his seductive trumpet lines to silken, soulful grooves that anticipated the dawn of disco. It was a move that mortified jazz aficionados at the time, but later cemented Byrd's legacy among hip-hop heavyweights like Nas, A Tribe Called Quest, and Madlib, who've all sampled his tracks.