|
Charlie Byrd was a jazz guitarist, who, unusually, played finger-style using a classical guitar. He became especially associated with Latin music, especially the bossa nova, through his collaborations with Stan Getz in the early 1960s. Born in Virginia in 1925, he learnt guitar from his father as a child, and saw combat duty in Europe during WWII, after which he studied at Manhattan’s Harnett National Music School and later with Andres Segovia in Italy – he cited Django Reinhardt as his greatest influence. His first recording was a private session with Charlie Parker’s Tentette in 1952, but after performing through the mid-50s in Washington DC he made his official recording debut on Savoy in 1957. He then made a series of albums for the Offbeat label, part of Washington Records, based in the capital, which over time were licensed or sold to Riverside and re-issued by them. This 34-track 2-CD collection comprises most of the titles from a selection of the Offbeat albums “Jazz At The Showboat Vol. 2” (reissued as “Byrd In The Wind”), “Jazz at The Showboat Vol, 3” (re-issued as“Mr, Guitar”), “At The Village Vanguard”, and “Blues Sonata”. It features performances with Charlie Schneer (piano), Keter Betts (bass), Bertell Knox (drums) and others. He was a skilled, distinctive and much admired jazz guitarist and this is an enlightening and absorbing insight into his early career.
|
