NEW LP
New sealed copy. Lacquer cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearant Audio. Pressed in Germany.
Unearthed from the Blue Note vaults nearly 50 years after it was recorded, Live: Cookin’ with Blue Note at Montreux captures Donald Byrd and his expansive fusion ensemble at a creative and combustible peak. The performance took place during Blue Note’s 1973 Montreux Jazz Festival showcase, a summit that also produced live albums by Bobby Hutcherson, Ronnie Foster, Bobbi Humphrey, and Marlena Shaw. Byrd’s performance, however, remained unreleased until 2022, finally issued on what would have been the trumpeter’s 90th birthday.
At the time, Byrd had just released Black Byrd, his landmark album with producer Larry Mizell that helped redefine jazz fusion for a new generation. While that studio album leaned on slick, accessible grooves, the Montreux set presents a more fiery, improvisational Byrd. His 10-piece band—including both Mizell brothers, saxophonists Allan Barnes and Nathan Davis, and a rhythm section anchored by Henry Franklin, Keith Killgo, and Ray Armando—unleashes a kinetic performance rooted in jazz-funk, soul, and spiritual uplift.
The set includes a bristling take on “Black Byrd,” along with Byrd originals “The East,” “Kwame,” and “Poco-Mania”—all previously unrecorded in studio form. The band also delivers a standout cover of Stevie Wonder’s “You’ve Got It Bad Girl,” reimagined with simmering tension and melodic inventiveness.
More than a historical footnote, this live album stands as essential listening for anyone interested in the deeper currents of 1970s jazz fusion—gritty, virtuosic, and pulsing with urgency.
TRACKLIST:
A1 Black Byrd
A2 You’ve Got It Bad Girl
A3 The East
B1 Introductions
B2 Kwame
B3 Poco‑Mania
