Review of the Donald Byrd CD Free Form

The exceptionally talented Jazz artist Donald Byrd has released him CD entitled Free Form. I am very confident and happy to announce that I believe Donald Byrd fans, and Jazz fans alike will be pleased with this one. With the release of Free Form Donald Byrd’s artistic excellence is on full display as Byrd has once again delivered a brilliant collection of tracks that could very well be him best work to date.

Refreshingly, this was one of those CDs I was able to just pop in and comfortably listen to from beginning to end. Every track is enjoyable and was pretty easy for me to listen to from start to finish.

Donald Byrd is one of those musicians that has the ability to just win you over with him talent. The kind of artist it’s really a treat to be able to listen to.

Listen to this CD and I believe you’ll find there's not much to dis-like about it. The songs are inspired, the production is simply outstanding, and Donald Byrd is clearly in top form. So much so that if you're even mildly into Jazz music you'll enjoy this CD.

While this entire CD is really very good the truly standout tunes are track 2 - Night Flower, track 5 - Free Form, and track 6 - Three Wishes.

My Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 1 - Pentacostal Feelin'. Good stuff!

Free Form Release Notes:

Donald Byrd originally released Free Form on March 9, 2004 on the Blue Note Records label.

CD Track List Follows:

1. Pentacostal Feelin' 2. Night Flower 3. Nai Nai 4. French Spice 5. Free Form 6. Three Wishes - (CD only, bonus track)

Personnel: Donald Byrd (trumpet); Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone); Herbie Hancock (piano); Butch Warren (bass); Billy Higgins (drums).

Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on December 11, 1961. Includes liner notes by Nat Hentoff and Bob Blumenthal.

link