Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II (December 9, 1932 – February 4, 2013) was an American jazz and rhythm & blues trumpeter, composer, and singer. He played with many famous jazz musicians of his time and was one of the few hard bop musicians who successfully played funk and soul music while staying true to jazz. As a bandleader, Byrd helped shape the beginning of Herbie Hancock's career and influenced many other musicians.

Biography

Byrd was born in 1932 in Detroit, Michigan. His family was from the African-American middle-class. His father, Elijah Thomas Byrd, was a Methodist minister who believed strongly in education and helped his son with school. His mother, Cornelia Taylor, introduced Byrd to jazz music. Her brother gave Byrd his first trumpet. He attended Cass Technical High School. Before finishing high school, he performed with Lionel Hampton. In 1949, he took part in his first professional recording session at Fortune Records in Detroit with the Robert Barnes Sextette for the single "Black Eyed Peas" / "Bobbin' At Barbee's." After serving in the United States Air Force, Byrd earned a bachelor's degree in music from Wayne State University and a master's degree from Manhattan School of Music. While studying at Manhattan School, he joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers as Clifford Brown's replacement. In 1955, he recorded with Gigi Gryce, Jackie McLean, and Mal Waldron. After leaving the Jazz Messengers in 1956, he performed with many famous jazz musicians, including John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, and later Herbie Hancock.

Byrd's first regular group was a quintet that he co-led from 1958 to 1961 with baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams. The group's energetic performances were recorded live at At the Half Note Cafe. Byrd's 1961 LP Royal Flush was Hancock's Blue Note debut. Hancock has said Byrd was a key influence in his early career. He recalled that Byrd helped him when he was a struggling musician in New York, even letting him sleep on a hide-a-bed in his Bronx apartment for several years.

Hancock also said Byrd helped him in other ways. He encouraged Hancock to make his debut album for Blue Note, connected him with Mongo Santamaria, who turned Hancock's tune "Watermelon Man" into a popular hit, and later urged him to accept Miles Davis's offer to join his quintet. Hancock credits Byrd with giving him important advice: not to give away his publishing rights. When Blue Note offered Hancock the chance to record his first solo LP, label executives tried to convince him to give up his publishing rights in exchange for recording the album. Hancock followed Byrd's advice and refused, causing the meeting to end. When Hancock stood to leave, the executives agreed to let him keep his publishing rights. Later, Santamaria's hit version of "Watermelon Man" earned Hancock significant royalties. He used his first royalty check of $6,000 to buy his first car, a 1963 Shelby Cobra (also recommended by Byrd), which he still owns.

In June 1964, Byrd played with Eric Dolphy in Paris only two weeks before Dolphy died from insulin shock.

By 1969's Fancy Free, Byrd was moving away from the hard bop jazz style and began recording jazz fusion and jazz-funk. He worked with the Mizell Brothers (Larry and Fonce), who were producers and writers, on the album Black Byrd (1973). This album was Blue Note's best-selling for many years. The title track reached No. 19 on Billboard's R&B chart and No. 88 on the Hot 100 pop chart. The Mizell brothers' later albums for Byrd, Street Lady, Places and Spaces, and Stepping into Tomorrow, were also successful. These albums provided samples for acid jazz artists like Us3. Most of the music on these albums was written by Larry Mizell.

In 1973, Byrd helped start and co-produce the Blackbyrds, a fusion group made up of students from Howard University, where Byrd taught and earned his J.D. in 1976. The group had several hits, including "Happy Music" (No. 3 R&B, No. 19 pop), "Walking in Rhythm" (No. 4 R&B, No. 6 pop), and "Rock Creek Park."

During the 1980s, while teaching at North Carolina Central University, Byrd formed a group with students called the "125th St NYC Band." They recorded three albums: Love Byrd, Words, Sounds, Colors and Shapes, and others. The album Love Byrd included the song "Love Has Come Around," which became a disco hit, reaching No. 4 on Billboard's U.S. Dance Club Songs and No. 41 on the charts in the UK.

Starting in the 1960s, Byrd taught at many colleges, including Rutgers University, the Hampton Institute, New York University, Howard University, Queens College, Oberlin College, Cornell University, North Carolina Central University, and Delaware State University. Later in his career, he returned to straight-ahead jazz, recording three albums for Orrin Keepnews's Landmark Records. Byrd was named a NEA Jazz Master in 2000.

Byrd lived in Teaneck, New Jersey. He died on February 4, 2013, in Dover, Delaware, at age 80.