Donald Byrd - Byrd In Flight
Donald Byrd - trumpet [click here to see more vinyl featuring Donald Byrd]
Jackie McLean - alto saxophone (B1-2) [click here to see more vinyl featuring Jackie McLean]
Hank Mobley - tenor saxophone (A1, A-4, B3-5) [click here to see more vinyl featuring Hank Mobley]
Duke Pearson - piano [click here to see more vinyl featuring Duke Pearson]
Doug Watkins (A1, A3-4, B3-5) - bass [click here to see more vinyl featuring Doug Watkins]
Reggie Workman (A2, B1-2) - bass
Lex Humphries - drums
1 LP, Gatefold jacket
Original analog Master tape : YES
Heavy Press : 180g
Record color : black
Speed : 33RPM
Size : 12”
Stereo
Studio
Record Press : RTI
Label : Blue Note Tone Poet
Original Label : Blue Note
Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on January 17, 1960 (A3), January 25, 1960 (A1, A4, B3), July 10, 1960 (A2, B1-2)
Engineered by Rudy Van Gelder
Produced by Joe Harley
Remastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio
Originally released in 1960
Reissued in 2021
Tracks :
- Side A
- Ghana
- Little Boy Blue
- Gate City
Side B
- Lex
- Bo
- My Girl Shirt
Reviews :
“By the time of this fourth Blue Note album by trumpeter Donald Byrd, it became clear that his playing was becoming stronger with the passing of time. Byrd in Flight features separate studio sessions from January and July of 1960 with constants Duke Pearson on piano and drummer Lex Humphries. Bassists Doug Watkins and Reggie Workman split duties six tracks to three, as do tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley and alto saxophonist Jackie McLean, making for some interesting sonic combinations, although Byrd is the dominant voice. Several of these selections are penned by Byrd, but it is pianist Pearson who contributes four of the most potent compositions on Byrd in Flight, supplying the wings for these quintet recordings to take off. Of the Pearson originals, "Gate City," with Mobley, is an attractive soul shuffle with a basic tandem line played one time through; "Bo," with Byrd and McLean, is a singing, easy blues, and "My Girl Shirl" is an all-Byrd-led bopper with McLean in late and a brief Latin break. Byrd's "Ghana," dedicated to that country's liberation, is not so much Afrocentric as it is a hip modal Afro-Cuban-to-hard bop streaker in an assertive tone. "Lex" is typical hard bop fare, with the tenor saxophonist and trumpeter going to town, while a supreme version of the ballad standard "Little Boy Blue" has the ever present Pearson and Byrd in slow musical repast about lost opportunities, primed by the sultry bass playing of Workman.” AllMusic Review by Michael G. Nastos
Ratings:
AllMusic 4/5 , Discogs 4.6 / 5