Around the turn of the 1970s, Detroit trumpeter Donald Byrd proved himself to be even more versatile than fans and critics suspected, as he began to transition from hard bop to jazz-funk, before setting off on an genre-defining run of soul-jazz and fusion albums for Blue Note. 

When he decided to team up with the Mizell Brothers’ Sky High production team on the West Coast, Byrd knew he was on the right musical path. He had first met Fonce and Larry Mizell at Howard University, where he was in the Music Faculty. Fonce Mizell earnt his musical stripes at Motown with The Jackson 5, and when his brother Larry joined the team with some state-of-the-art synthesizers and audio electronics, their jazz-funk aesthetic was ready to go space age. 

It was 1972 and Stevie Wonder had just gotten the very first ARP 2600 – and the Mizells were next on the list. Larry Mizell credits Donald Byrd with convincing Blue Note to adopt a funkier, more modern sound, and it paid off. “Black Byrd”, their first album together in 1973, became the label’s best-selling album. Sky High went on to produce a slew of recordings for various artists, from organist Johnny Hammond, to saxophonist Gary Bartz and flautist Bobbi Humphrey. Among this discography were six records for Donald Byrd that set the bar for jazz-funk fusion in the 1970s and beyond.

After “Black Byrd“, their follow-up concept album “Street Lady” wasn’t well-received by the jazz critics, but the public instinctively picked up the vibe. By the time the group came round to record “Stepping Into Tomorrow” in December 1974, they were veterans of the sound, with an implicit group understanding. A stellar rhythm section in the form of Headhunters’ drummer Harvey Mason, legendary session bassist and Steely Dan regular Chuck Rainey, and the prolific David T. Walker guaranteed that the funk was on another plane. Gary Bartz and an array of percussionists and singers brought the astral atmosphere. It all ensured the sessions at Hollywood’s Sound Factory refined Donald Byrd’s soulful, cosmic dancefloor funk into a potent brew.

The proof wasn’t just in the slouched funk that pervaded the album, it was also in its strong melodic contours. “We were fiends about drum sounds, drum grooves and basslines, and how to approach them,” admitted Larry Mizell. The combination of Byrd’s compositional flair, and the Mizell’s stripped-back rhythmic figures and obsessive approach to studio craft, resulted in a catalogue rich in source material for a generation of hip-hop producers some 20 years later. It made Donald Byrd one of America’s most sampled artists, and “Think Twice”, the lead single from “Stepping Into Tomorrow”, is one of his most enduring songs. Its bassline and vocal melody became a hip-hop staple, covered and sampled by everyone from A Tribe Called Quest and Main Source to Pete Rock, Erykah Badu and J Dilla.

But the universal appeal of “Think Twice” wasn’t only suited to hip-hop’s low slung bump. It’s also been translated into uptempo treatments by the likes of New York house hero Mike Delgado and footwork pioneer DJ Rashad. Techno original Carl Craig and his Detroit Experiment project also tapped into this mid-tempo bounce, delivering a definitive version in 2002. Craig built on the Mizell brother’s technique of doubling up on electric and synth basslines, and enlisted the skills of drummer Karriem Riggins and trumpeter Marcus Belgrave to reimagine “Think Twice” as an evergreen jazz-house staple.

The album’s title track also proved the catalyst for Madlib’s “Shades Of Blue” from 2003, a deep dive into the Blue Note vaults which produced a vivid reworking of classic jazz sessions. When asked by Blue Note president Don Was how he chose the two Donald Byrd tracks that feature, Madlib simply admitted: “I had to get that jazz-funk!” 

It’s that mixture of heavy funk rhythms and outer-dimensional jazz that’s central to Donald Byrd’s abiding sound. It’s no wonder then that “Stepping Into Tomorrow” also ranks among super producer and fashion icon Pharrell Williams’ favourite albums of all time. The impact of Donald Byrd’s jazz-funk quantum leap is still being felt today.

---

Max Cole is a writer and music enthusiast based in Düsseldorf, who has written for record labels and magazines such as Straight No Chaser, Kindred Spirits, Rush Hour, South of North, International Feel and the Red Bull Music Academy.

---

_{Header image: Donald Byrd. Photo: David Warner Ellis.}