Influential US jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd, whoperformed alongside the likes of Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk and HerbieHancock, has died aged 80.The musicianwas a leading hard-bop trumpeter - a jazz extension of bebop - in themid-1950s.He later becameknown for his blend of soul, funk and jazz fusion.
Byrd'sinfluence has been more recently felt thanks to hip-hop artists such as Nas,Ludacris and A Tribe Called Quest who have all sampled his recordings.
Born DonaldsonToussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II in Detroit, Michigan, Byrd got his start playingin military bands in the Air Force and moved to New York City in 1955.
He then rose toprominence when he joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers - replacing his idolClifford Brown - and soon became one of the most in-demand trumpeters.
In 1958, hesigned a record contract with the Blue Note label and formed a band withbaritone saxophonist Pepper Adams, releasing their debut album, Off to theRaces, a year later.
Their 1961recording Free Form also featured a then 20-year-old Herbie Hancock.
"Donaldhad this beautiful tone and had a very lyrical sense of playing and a realsense of melody,'' Hancock told news agency AP, adding Byrd had been a keyinfluence early in his career.
He said Byrdtook him "under his wings" when he was a struggling musician in NewYork, even letting him sleep on a sofa-bed in his Bronx apartment for severalyears.
'Born educator'
In the 1960s,after receiving his master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music, Byrdturned his attention to jazz education.
He became thefirst person to teach jazz at Rutgers University in New Jersey and started thejazz studies department at Howard University in Washington DC.
In the 1970sByrd moved toward a more commercial sound and his 1973 release Black Byrd, wasthe label's biggest selling album at the time.
He then formedthe group, The Blackbyrds, made up of several of his best students at HowardUniversity and scored US hits with albums Street Lady, Stepping Into Tomorrowand Place and Spaces.
From the 1980s,Byrd focused more on education and received a doctorate from New York'sTeachers College at Columbia University and later twice served as anartist-in-residence at Delaware State University.
"He hasalways nurtured and encouraged young musicians," Hancock said. "He'sa born educator, it seems to be in his blood, and he really tried to encouragethe development of creativity.''
Once of Byrd'slast performances was on rapper Guru's 1993 jazz-rap album, Jazzmatazz, Vol 1.
Nas sampled themusician on his 1994 hit NY State of Mind, while A Tribe Called Quest sampledhis work on 1990's Footprints.
Source: BBC
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