THE BLACKBYRDS

"The Blackbyrds are one of several groups...who truly make a claim for being the soul of the sidewalk." -BBC

The Blackbyrds were at the cutting edge of jazz fusion, R&B and funk in the 1970s, pushing the boundaries of Black popular music forward in one of the most musically fertile decades of the past century.  Established by legendary jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd in 1973, the band's success includes several highly successful albums (1973's The Blackbyrds, 1974's Flying Start, 1975's City Life, 1976's Unfinished Business, 1977's Action, 1980's Better Days); film scores (1975's "Cornbread," "Earl and Me"), and supported such artists as B.B. King, Mandrill, Herbie Hancock, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and Roberta Flack, among others. The Blackbyrds put the group on the map with "Do It, Fluid," a funky laid-back party anthem. The group followed that initial success with a string of albums over the next five years, including Flying Start (1974), which yielded their biggest hit, the Grammy® nominated "Walking in Rhythm," and City Life (1975), which contained the hit "Happy Music" and the iconic "Rock Creek Park," which remains one of the most sampled jazz-funk records to this day, as well as such hits as “Supernatural Feeling,” Grammy nominated “Unfinished Business,” “Time is Movin’,” “Dreaming About You” and “Flyin’ High,” among many others. Their signature sound combined jazz techniques with R&B, funk, classical and gospel and supported the emerging hip-hop movement. The Blackbyrds have been sampled by countless hip-hop artists, most notably Grandmaster Flash, Tupac, De La Soul, NWA, Eric B. & Rakim, Heavy D, Gang Starr, MF Doom, Wiz Khalifa, Nas, Ice Cube, and most recently, Jeezy. Under the leadership of original drummer and vocalist, Keith Killgo, the band continues to record, tour and perform globally.