Recorded in 1981 and produced by
Isaac Hayes, trumpeter and composer
Donald Byrd's first recording for
Elektra is the sound of a musician who has truly lost his way.
Byrd's nearly decade-long collaboration with the
Mizell Brothers ended when he left
Blue Note for
Elektra. It wasn't so much that
Byrd left "
jazz" for
funk and
proto-disco, the latter elements had been part of his sound since 1972 with
Black Byrd (some would say the real transition to more
R&B based music began before that with
Fancy Free in 1965). The period with
the Mizells, though decried by
jazz critics everywhere as a sellout, was a fertile one for
Byrd creatively and married his vision of being a viable and accessible artist, one who sought out the direct experience of
soul and
funk as a way of getting his music across. It was also a successful one commercially -- his albums sold to a wider audience and were played on commercial FM radio. But by the time he went
Elektra,
Byrd was caught between a rock and a hard place, and this set proves it. With vocals being handled by
Hayes'
Hot Buttered Soul Unlimited quartet, and the producer himself playing piano, vibes, Rhodes, and writing, along with
Byrd's
125th Street N.Y.C. Band, there was little left for
Byrd to actually do.
Hayes' stamp on this record is thorough. There are some slick but effective
soul ballads here, such as the album's finest moment,
"Butterfly" written by
Andrew Walker (with beautiful vibes work by
Hayes and acoustic piano by
Myra Walker, as well as the most prominent work by
Byrd's trumpet); the bandleader's sole contribution
"I'll Always Love You" is here, along with
Hayes' own
"I Feel Like Loving You Today" (a slow-ish, sultry burner). The up-tempo tracks fall flat as
funk. There is something canned sounding about most of them, such as
William Duckett's
"Love Has Come Around," which opens with a majestic guitar and piano intro before kicking off the two-note
proto-disco vamp and handclap, which makes the track feel empty and cold. The deep
funk cover of
Cole Porter's
"Love for Sale," is a bad joke despite some killer clavinet work by
Albert Crawford, Jr., and
"I Love Your Love," is more a vamp and a hook than a song. The set ends with another ballad with
Hayes' voice out in front of his
Hot Buttered Soul Unlimited. The question here is daunting: where's
Byrd? His playing is simply an accessory to
Hayes' arrangements, and his fills, while present on every cut, never really bite and take hold; they're just there.
Byrd's artistic vision was cloudy at best when he was with
Elektra, and this exercise in blandness is a case in point. ~ Thom Jurek
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