Byrd in Hand

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}

{{Infobox album

| name = Byrd in Hand

| type = studio

| artist = Donald Byrd

| cover = Byrd-in-hand-cover-folder.jpg

| alt =

| released = 1959

| recorded = May 31, 1959

| venue =

| studio = Van Gelder Studio
Hackensack, New Jersey

| genre = Hard Bop

| length = 39:54

| label = Blue Note
BLP 4019

| producer = Alfred Lion

| prev_title = Off to the Races

| prev_year = 1958

| next_title = Fuego

| next_year = 1959

}}

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite web |url= http://www.allmusic.com/album/r136265 |title=Byrd in Hand - Donald Byrd | AllMusic |first=Scott |last=Yanow |work=allmusic.com |year=2011 |access-date=1 August 2011}}

| rev2 = DownBeat

| rev2score = {{rating|5|5}}{{Cite magazine |last=DeMichael |first=Don |date=17 March 1960 |title=Donald Byrd: Byrd in Hand |magazine=DownBeat |volume=27 |issue=6 |pages=33–34}}

| rev3 = The Penguin Guide to Jazz

| rev3Score = {{rating|3|4}}{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Richard |author-link=Richard Cook (journalist) |last2=Morton |first2=Brian |author-link2=Brian Morton (Scottish writer) |title=The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, LP & Cassette |year=1992 |edition=1st |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-14-015364-4 |pages=170–171 }}

}}

Byrd in Hand is an album by American jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd recorded on May 31, 1959 and released on Blue Note later that year.{{Cite web|url=https://jazztimes.com/features/tributes-and-obituaries/donald-byrd-dies-at-80/|title=Donald Byrd Dies at 80|first=Jeff|last=Tamarkin|website=JazzTimes|date=26 April 2019 }}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K7svgLNMxjgC&q=Byrd+in+Hand+donald+byrd+1959&pg=PT542|title=The Penguin Jazz Guide: The History of the Music in the 1000 Best Albums|first1=Brian|last1=Morton|first2=Richard|last2=Cook|date=November 4, 2010|publisher=Penguin UK|isbn=9780141959009|via=Google Books}}

Reception

The Penguin Guide to Jazz described the recording as a "typical Blue Note blowing session".

The AllMusic reviewer wrote that "Although none of the new tunes caught on, the group [...] plays consistently creative and spirited solos in the hard bop idiom."

Track listing

All compositions by Donald Byrd, except as noted.

= Side 1 =

  1. "Witchcraft" (Cy Coleman, Carolyn Leigh) – 8:29
  2. "Here I Am" – 8:25
  3. "Devil Whip" – 4:42

= Side 2 =

  1. "Bronze Dance" (Walter Davis, Jr.) – 6:42
  2. "Clarion Calls" (Walter Davis, Jr.) – 5:41
  3. "The Injuns" – 6:13

Personnel

= Musicians =

= Technical personnel =

References