Donald Byrd - Byrd in Flight - Tone Poet LP

180-gram LP

Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio from the original master tape

Plated and pressed at RTI

The Blue Note Tone Poet Series was born out of Blue Note President Don Was' admiration for the exceptional audiophile Blue Note LP reissues presented by Music Matters. Was brought Joe Harley (from Music Matters), a.k.a. the "Tone Poet," on board to curate and supervise a series of reissues from the Blue Note family of labels.

The high-spirited soloing of trumpeter Donald Byrd and tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley on "Ghana" — the opening track of Byrd In Flight — lets listeners know that they are in for an exceptional musical experience. In addition to Mobley, Byrd is joined by Jackie Mclean on alto saxophone, Duke Pearson on piano, bassists Doug Watkins and Reggie Workman, and drummer Lex Humphries on these sessions from 1960. Other highlights include Byrd's stunning ballad tour-de-force on "Little Girl Blue" and the hard bop swingers "My Girl Shirl" and "Lex," the latter featuring an especially soulful solo from Mobley.