Donald Byrd

Byrd Jazz Donald Byrd Audiophile edition

Did you know that the first LPs in the short history of the Transition label were the first sessions as leader for three of the greatest performers of modern jazz? We are talking about Donald Byrd's “Byrd Jazz,” Cecil Taylor's “Jazz Advance” and Sun Ra's “Jazz By Sun Ra Vol. 1” (Transition TRLP 10). Tom Wilson, founder of Transition, had to close the label after only two years of operation (1955–1957). He went on to produce pop and rock artists such as Frank Zappa, Simon and Garfunkel, The Velvet Underground and Bob Dylan, to name but a few. Fortunately, most of the recordings he produced for Transition – including unreleased material – were later acquired by other labels or the musicians themselves, and some of them were given a second chance to be heard.