By the time of this fourth Blue Note album by trumpeter
Donald Byrd, it became clear that his playing was becoming stronger with the passing of time.
Byrd in Flight features separate studio sessions from January and July of 1960 with constants
Duke Pearson on piano and drummer
Lex Humphries. Bassists
Doug Watkins and
Reggie Workman split duties six tracks to three, as do tenor saxophonist
Hank Mobley and alto saxophonist
Jackie McLean, making for some interesting sonic combinations, although
Byrd is the dominant voice. Several of these selections are penned by
Byrd, but it is pianist
Pearson who contributes four of the most potent compositions on
Byrd in Flight, supplying the wings for these quintet recordings to take off. Of the
Pearson originals, "Gate City," with
Mobley, is an attractive soul shuffle with a basic tandem line played one time through; "Bo," with
Byrd and
McLean, is a singing, easy blues, and "My Girl Shirl" is an all-
Byrd-led bopper with
McLean in late and a brief Latin break.
Byrd's "Ghana," dedicated to that country's liberation, is not so much Afrocentric as it is a hip modal Afro-Cuban-to-hard bop streaker in an assertive tone. "Lex" is typical hard bop fare, with the tenor saxophonist and trumpeter going to town, while a supreme version of the ballad standard "Little Boy Blue" has the ever present
Pearson and
Byrd in slow musical repast about lost opportunities, primed by the sultry bass playing of
Workman. ~ Michael G. Nastos