So reports reached all of us just over a week or so ago that Donald Byrd, one of the most revered trumpet players of our times had passed Monday 4th February. With a career that spanned several decades and many genres of jazz, everyone it seems has their favourite part of Dr. Byrd’s long career, whether it be his early forays into bebop and hard bop, his soul jazz and gospel inflected recordings of the late 60s or the fusion and R&B albums he created during the 70s and 80s. His music has also been well sampled, his fruitful work with the Mizell Brothers, which started out in 1973 with the album ‘Black Byrd’, proving especially popular in hip-hop, soul and house music circles. Frannie Kelley at NPR Jazz and Straight No Chaser’s Paul Bradshaw were but two journalists to pen brilliant tributes once his death was finally confirmed, both of which are certainly worth a read now should you want to delve a little deeper into Byrd’s distinguished life and the lasting influence he holds among musicians and fans alike.
Here at The Jazz Meet, we decided that we wanted to pay homage to the man whose music we had literally grown up with, so this past Sunday we set aside a whole evening to explore the vast canon of music he left us with. Resident DJs Rob and Sid brought bags exclusively packed with records composed, arranged, or featuring the trumpeter, and the house band set aside around half of their live sets to reinterpret some of his most famous of tunes. As well as performing a  version of the righteous ‘Pentecostal Feeling’ which you can you view below, Jessica Lauren, Jake Telford, Jason Simpson et al. also interpreted ‘Fufu’, ‘Mustang’, and versions of ‘Canteloupe Island’ and ‘Senor Blues’ (the last two of which originally featured performances from the trumpeter). And below, just for posterity’s sake, are the full tracklists from the DJ sets. No audio recording unfortunately but you’d do well to check out the following audio tributes from Kev Beadle, Gilles Peterson and Patrick Forge and our friend out in Oz, John Bailey.
Kev Beadle – A Tribute To Donald Byrd
Gilles Peterson – Donald Byrd Tribute Mix // Part 1 – The Acoustic Years
Gilles Peterson -Â Donald Byrd Tribute Mix // Part 2 – The Electric Years
Patrick Forge – Cosmic Jam 10.2.13 Donald Byrd Tribute
John Bailey – Donald Byrd Tribute on Stolen Moments
ROB COLEY FIRST SET
Fancy Free (Fancy Free 1969)
Amen (Fuego 1959)
Dixie Lee (Mustang! 1966)
March Children (I’m Trying To Get Home 1965)
Cantaloupe Island  (Up With Donald Byrd 1965)
Ghana (Byrd In Flight 1960)
Fuego (Fuego 1959)
Pentecostal Feeling (Free Form 1962)
Duke’s Mixture (The Cat Walk 1962)
Blackbyrd (Black Byrd 1973)
The Emperor (Ethiopian Knights 1972)
The Dude (Electric Byrd 1970)
Witchcraft (Street Lady 1973)
Noah  (I’m Trying To Get Home 1965)
You’re Next (Chant 1961)
The Uptowner (Fancy Free 1969)
Off To The Races (Off To The Races 1959)
Fly Little Bird Fly (Mustang! 1966)
Love’s So Far Away (Black Byrd 1973)
Caricatures (Caricatures 1976)
I Love This Girl (Stepping Into Tomorrow 1975)
Miss Kane (Street Lady 1973)
SID FORD SETS
Jellyroll (Slow Drag 1967)
The Black Disciple (A New Perspective 1963)
Fufu (Kofi 1969)
West of the Pecos (Blackjack 1967)
Jeannine (At The Half Note Cafe, Vol. 2 1960)
Kofi (Kofi 1969)
Love’s So Far Away (Black Byrd 1973)
Dance Band (Caricatures 1976)
Street Lady (Street Lady 1973)
Little Rasti (Ethiopian Knights 1972)