Donald Byrd Dead at 80

The music world lost one of its most influential jazz
artists this week, with the passing of Donald Byrd.
Initially thought to be an online rumor, the
trumpter's nephew, Alex Bugnon confirmed today via
Facebook that Byrd died on Monday, February 4. No
details have been released about his cause of death,
according to Amoeba.com.
"Let's remember Donald as a one of a kind pioneer of
the trumpet, of the many styles of music he took on,
of music education," wrote Bugnon, a jazz
keyboardist.
Born December 9, 1932, Donaldson Toussaint
L'Ouverture Byrd II first picked up a trumpet while
attending Detroit's famed Cass Technical High
School, which was also host to Diana Ross and David
Alan Grier. He excelled in jazz, and played along
many greats, including John Coltrane, Thelonius
Monk,Sonny Rollins and Herbie Hancock. He was a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, and became a household name in the 70s, with his group The Blackbyrds, which included several students he
taught at Howard University. Big singles for the
group included &quot... Music" and the Grammy-
nominated "Walking In Rhythm."
But Byrd's reach extended far beyond jazz. Hip hop
fans have been nodding their heads to his music for
years, even if they didn't know it. Nas (on "N.Y. State
of Mind" and "Get Down"), Public Enemy (on "Fear of
a Black Planet") and Ice Cube (on "I Wanna Kill Sam")
are just a few of the artists who have sampled his
music. Both Erykah Badu and late producer J Dilla
covered his song "Think Twice," and he worked with
Guru>
on volumes one and two of the hip hop-jazz mashup
album, Jazzmatazz.
In addition to teaching at Howard, Byrd taught his
craft at Cornell University, De... State University, Ha...
Institute (University), New York University, North
Carolina Central University, Ob... College, Queens
College and Rutgers University. His legacy will live
on, though his music and the students he inspired.

Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN