Donald Byrd & The Blackbyrds
July 5, 1973
Montreux Jazz Festival
Convention Center
Montreux, Switzerland
Runtime: 44:02

Source: Blue Note Records digital audio stream
URL: http://www.bluenote.com/spotlight/donald-byrd-live-at-montreux-july-5-1973
Lineage: MPEG II, Layer 1 (192 kbs, 48 kHz, stereo) > M-Audio sc > HD(wav1648) > edit + downsample > flac(lvl8)

To celebrate the music of trumpeter Donald Byrd who passed away at the age of 80 earlier this month, Blue Note Records is streaming a never before released performance of Byrd at the Montreux Jazz Festival from 1973. Bob Belden mixed the recording in 1999, however, for reasons unknown, it remained hidden in the Blue Note vaults for the last 14 years. The recording features some of Byrd's best-known tunes including the title track from his 1973 album 'Black Byrd' which was Blue Notes top selling album for nearly two decades.

1 Introduction (1:07)
2 Poco-Mania (5:20)
3 You've Got It Bad Girl (7:38)
4 Untitled No. 3 (9:27)
5 Black Byrd (8:32) //
6 Kwame (11:55)

Personnel:
Donald Byrd, Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Vocals; Fonce Mizell, Trumpet, Vocals; Allan Barnes, Tenor Sax, Flute; Nathan Davis, Tenor Sax, Soprano Sax; Kevin Toney, Electric Piano; Larry Mizell, Synthesizer; Barney Perry, Electric Guitar; Henry Franklin, Electric Bass; Keith Killgo, Drums, Vocals; Ray Armando, Conga, Percussion.

Edited by plaz:
- eliminated DC offset
- rolled off gain above 16.8 kHz
- increased stereo width by 15 dB
- notched out noise bands between 15.2 and 15.7 kHz
- balanced channels
- lightly decrackled and repaired clicks and pops
- reduced broadband noise by 1.1 dB
- attenuated 50 Hz hum and 7 harmonics during track 1
- removed track 6 (sounds so bad it distracts from the rest)
- EQ: +1.4 dB at 90 Hz, +1 dB at 260 Hz, +0.5 dB at 750 Hz, -0.4 dB from 12.5-17.5 kHz, low pass at 17.5 kHz
- cross mixed slightly (L : R = +7dB : +3dB) to better balance instruments within the stereo image
- minor gain and tonal adjustments
- downsampled to 41.1 kHz
- compacted, tracked, tagged and packed to flac(lvl8)

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Blue Note Records, February 25, 2013:

As teenagers in Detroit during the 1960s, my friends and I regarded Donald Byrd with the same lofty respect reserved for other hometown musical heroes like Smokey Robinson, The MC5, Elvin Jones, Mitch Ryder, Aretha Franklin and John Lee Hooker..., they were all amazing artists who were changing the face of music by exporting the sounds of our city to the rest of the world. The music of Donald Byrd was ubiquitous back then... cats like the legendary Motor City jazz disc jockey, Ed Love, would hit tracks like "Nai Nai" from "Free Form" and "Christo Redentor" from "A New Perspective" on a nightly basis... Later on, in the 1970s, Mr. Byrd started adding a healthy dose of Detroit-style funk to his records and his innovative music could be heard blasting out of dashboard mounted 8 track players and back seat subwoofers all over town...He was a Motor City Trumpet Revolutionary and his timeless music will never be forgotten.

Shortly after Mr. Byrd's passing on February 4th, we got an email from the noted British music icon, Gilles Petersen, inquiring about a legendary performance from 1973's Montreux Jazz Festival. Blue Note's Curator-In-Chief, Michael Cuscuna, told us that it had, indeed, been recorded and subsequently mixed for release by Bob Belden in 1999. Inexplicably, it has remained hidden in the Blue Note vaults - until now. The tapes are wonderful and reveal a far more raw and gritty side to Donald Byrd's 70's music than his studio recordings might suggest...

As a special tribute to this Jazz Immortal and as a gift to the legions of aficionados who, like all of us at Blue Note Records, treasure the music he's left behind, we are honored to present - for the first time - Donald Byrd, Live at Montreux from July 5, 1973.

Don Was
President, Blue Note Records

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February 26, 2013
Shortly after Donald Byrd�s passing, Gilles Peterson (www.gillespetersonworldwide.com) emailed Don Was (CEO, Blue Note) to enquire after the recording of Byrd�s legendary session at Montreux in 1973. Gilles had the DVD (what you see below), but Blue Note had the recording. It had remained in their vaults until GP reminded them of it.

Video excerpts of this concert ('Kwane') are available for streaming:
http://www.gillespetersonworldwide.com/donald-byrd-performing-at-montreux-jazz-festival-1973/

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March 1-6, 2013:
After studying (and attempting to restore) this recording, I think this is sourced from a master VHS recording of a European TV broadcast. In any event, it exhibits characteristics of those media: noise in bands between 15.2 and 15.7 kHz, and 50 Hz hum and multiple harmonics. Montreux Jazz Festival owns the masters and publishing rights for the performances it records. Compare the sound here with any recording in the Miles Davis Montreux box set for example, and you'll get the idea. Let's hope MJF and Blue Note get it sorted and issued one day, for this is but a shadow of what is buried in the MJF vaults. Here's a glimpse of Donald Byrd funking it up in Montreux in the wake of Black Byrd's release.
-plaz

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Excerpt from Blue Note Records' synopsis of Donald Byrd's career
(The Full article is at http://www.bluenote.com/artists/donald-byrd)

"Byrd truly came into his own as a fusion artist when he hooked up with brothers Larry and Fonce Mizell, who began to handle production, writing, and some musical support duties. Their first collaboration was 1972's Black Byrd, an upbeat, funky blend of jazz and R&B. Jazz critics detested the album and called Byrd all sorts of names, but the record was a smash hit; it became the biggest seller in Blue Note history, and just missed hitting number one on the R&B albums chart. In the wake of its success, Byrd formed a supporting group, the Blackbyrds, who were culled from the cream of his music students at Howard University and recorded through the rest of the '70s.

Byrd went on to release a string of successful LPs in partnership with the Mizell Brothers, including the imaginary blaxploitation soundtrack Street Lady (1974), Stepping into Tomorrow (1975), the much-lauded Places and Spaces (1976), and Caricatures (1977). All made the Top Ten on the R&B album charts, and the Places and Spaces single "Change (Makes You Wanna Hustle)" even got substantial play in discotheques. Jazz-funk fans revere this period in general, but usually reserve their highest praise for Street Lady and, especially, Places and Spaces..."

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