Charlie Byrd
Tasteful, low-key, and ingratiatingly melodic, Charlie Byrd had two notable accomplishments to his credit -- applying acoustic classical guitar techniques to jazz and popular music and helping to introduce Brazilian music to mass North American audiences. Born into a musical family, Byrd experienced his first brush with greatness while a teenager in France during World War II, playing with his idol Django Reinhardt. After some postwar gigs with Sol Yaged, Joe Marsala and Freddie Slack, Byrd temporarily abandoned jazz to study classical guitar with Sophocles Papas in 1950 and Andrés Segovia in 1954. However he re-emerged later in the decade gigging around the Washington D.C. area in jazz settings, often splitting his sets into distinct jazz and classical segments. He started recording for Savoy as a leader in 1957, and also recorded with the Woody Herman Band in 1958-59. A tour of South America under the aegis of the U.S. State Department in 1961, proved to be a revelation, for it was in Brazil that Byrd discovered the emerging bossa nova movement. Once back in D.C., he played some bossa nova tapes to Stan Getz, who then convinced Verve's Creed Taylor to record an album of Brazilian music with himself and Byrd. That album, Jazz Samba, became a pop hit in 1962 on the strength of the single "Desafinado" and launched the bossa nova wave in North America. Thanks to the bossa nova, several albums for Riverside followed, including the defining Bossa Nova Pelos Passaros, and he was able to land a major contract with Columbia, though the records from that association often consisted of watered-down easy listening pop. In 1973, he formed the group Great Guitars with Herb Ellis and Barney Kessel and also that year, wrote an instruction manual for the guitar that has become widely used. From 1974 onward, Byrd recorded for the Concord Jazz label in a variety of settings, including sessions with Laurindo Almeida and Bud Shank. He died December 2, 1999 after a long bout with cancer.
© Richard S. Ginell /TiVo
Similar artists
-
Charlie Byrd Trio & Woodwinds
Jazz - Released by Black Sheep Music on 27 nov. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bossa Nova Pelos Passaros! (Remastered)
Bossa Nova - Released by RevOla on 24 okt. 2018
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
-
-
-
On Riverside: Charlie Byrd
Jazz - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 14 sep. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Guitar Artistry of Charlie Byrd (Original Album - Digitally Remastered)
Latijns-Amerika - Released by Jazz Roots Records on 7 feb. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
All That Jazz, Vol. 55: "Blues Sonata at the Showboat" – Charlie Byrd (Remastered 2015)
Charlie Byrd, Ginny Byrd, Keter Betts
Moderne jazz - Released by Jube Legends on 5 feb. 2016
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
-
The Guitar Artistry Of Charlie Byrd
Jazz - Released by CoolNote on 1 jan. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The World Of Charlie Byrd
Jazz - Released by Columbia - Legacy on 9 sep. 1973
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Moments Like This
Jazz - Released by Concord Records on 1 jan. 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Blues For Night People (Original)
Jazz - Released by Music Manager on 1 jan. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Galopera (Acuaiero Asuncena)
Charlie Byrd, Stan Getz, Charlie Byrd, Charlie Byrd Trio
Pop - Released by Digable Classics on 1 okt. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ultimate Spanish Guitar Collection (1957-1962)
Jazz - Released by Vintage Masters Inc. on 1 aug. 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Byrd in the Wind + Blues for Night People
Jazz - Released by Efor, S.L on 15 mrt. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jazz Samba
Latijns-Amerika - Released by Jazz All Stars on 17 mrt. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jazz Pearls
Latijns-Amerika - Released by Jazz 2 Jazz Records on 14 jun. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jazz Samba (Original Album - Remastered)
Wereldmuziek - Released by Balanço on 25 apr. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bamba-Samba Bossa Nova (Remastered)
Moderne jazz - Released by RevOla on 20 jul. 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo