An ambitious fusion artist, Donald Byrd is a jazz trumpeter who became an
important figure pioneering jazz fusion with funk and soul music, enjoying a
number of hits with tracks such as Happy Music, Walking In Rhythm and Rock Creek
Park. The son of a Methodist minister who was also a musician, Byrd started
young, playing with Lionel Hampton while still at high school and played in a
military band during a spell in the US Air Force. He achieved a Masters Degree
at Manhattan School of Music, where he also joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers,
working with the likes of John Coltrane,...