Patrick Forge's Podcast

In the wake of the great jazz trumpeter's death I'd been a little dismayed that Donald Byrd was being celebrated by my Facebook friends mainly for the his 70's recordings with the Mizell Brothers. Of course these are all amazing tunes, and I love them as intensely as anyone. Way back in the 90s I was asked by Blue Note Japan to choose an album from the catalogue for re-release in Japan, and I chose Places ANd Spaces, at a time when the Mizell Brothers recordings had not yet gained the formidable reputation they deservedly have today. However Donald Byrd had already enjoyed a prodigous career that went back to 1955, almost twenty years before he stepped in the studio with the fusion pioneers. So it was my intent to play a greater breadth of Byrd's works on the show whilst not ignoring his later crossover material. I'd even lined up "Lovin' You" and "Love Has Come Around" for the closing sequence. However I arrived at the studio and launched into my selection following the usual bit of banter with messrs Allen