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Donald Byrd: The Emperor

By Chris May
March 30, 2023
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"The Emperor" is the killer track on

Donald Byrd

trumpet
1932 - 2013

" data-original-title="" title="">Donald Byrd's 1972 masterpiece Ethiopian Knights (Blue Note), an album which took

" data-original-title="" title="">Miles Davis' contemporaneous electric experiments, stripped them of their wannabe rockstar aspirations and reframed them with a deep funk sensibility. Byrd, tenor saxophonist

Harold Land

saxophone, tenor
1928 - 2001

" data-original-title="" title="">Harold Land, trombonist

Thurman Green

trombone
1940 - 1997

" data-original-title="" title="">Thurman Green, vibes player

Bobby Hutcherson

vibraphone
1941 - 2016

" data-original-title="" title="">Bobby Hutcherson and others bounce off plugged-in guitarist and bassist

Gordon Peake

" data-original-title="" title="">Gordon Peake and

Wilton Felder

saxophone, tenor
1940 - 2015

" data-original-title="" title="">Wilton Felder for 15:40 minutes of stone magic.

Contact Chris May on All About Jazz.
Chris May is a senior editor of All About Jazz. He was previously the editor of the pioneering magazine Black Music & Jazz Review, and more recently editor of the style / culture / history magazine Jocks & Nerds.

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