Masterpiece: Long Green

[Today: Donald Byrd hits a home run on his first swing...]

Donald Byrd’s 1955 debut is one of the most spacious jazz albums ever recorded. Byrd sounds for all the world like he’s playing his trumpet at full blast on the other side of town from his band, but he plays each note with such full-throttle power that his sound flows perfectly into the rest of the group. Recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder, who engineered many of the classic Blue Note albums of the 1960’s, was just the man to pull off such a trick.

When you listen to the MP3 below, imagine Byrd blowing his top about 25 yards away from the rest of his group – because this is undoubtedly how many of the numbers on this session were miked up. It’s only when Byrd pulls back on his trumpet that the space between him and the band becomes obvious, but once it does, it’s like listening to jazz in HD.

Here Byrd is still a young player trying to find his sound, which is a good thing, because the sound he eventually found was more Pop than Bop. But in September of 1955 he floated somewhere between bebop and cool jazz, emulating the sound of Miles Davis, yet falling far enough astray of that mark to keep things interesting. He’s helped out here by a number of other young players trying to make their mark, including bassist Paul Chambers, who would go on to make many great recordings with John Coltrane.

Byrd himself would record a number of noteworthy albums with Blue Note during the 1960’s, and he would become closely identified with the fusion jazz movement of the 70s. But for sheer atmosphere and pure blowing, nothing else he ever recorded comes close to Long Green.

Listen: Winterset

Tags: debut album, Donald Byrd, Jazz, Long Green