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(Byrd also encouraged the young musician to keep control of his publishing, a smart move when HancockвЂ™s вЂњWatermelon ManвЂќ became a smash hit for Mongo Santamaria.)ДЄs Hancock described Byrd: вЂњHeвЂ™s a born educator, it seems to be in his blood, and he really tried to encourage the development of creativity.вЂќ Byrd became part of the Howard faculty, but like all great teachers, he understood that he, too, was always learning.

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ByrdвЂ™s 1961 LP Royal Flush marked HancockвЂ™s Blue Note debut and ByrdвЂ™s 1962 follow-up Free Form featured HancockвЂ™s first composition. While still studying at the Manhattan School of Music he befriended a pianist eight years his junior, Herbie Hancock. Well before he was a teacher, Byrd saw himself as a mentor. Faced with a curriculum wholly divorced from the lived experience of its African-American student body, the students demanded change.ДЄs Natalie Weiner wrote in the liner notes for a recent reissue of ByrdвЂ™s 1970 early fusion classic, Fancy Free: вЂњByrd was brought in (to Howard) as a peace offering during negotiations spurred by the protests - a teacher tasked with starting not only the schoolвЂ™s first jazz band, but also jazz history courses and seminars.вЂќ That tension between Black music and white academic institutions remains some 40 years later, as a recent New York Times piece investigated. Needless to say, jazz, blues and gospel performances were verboten. Students could be expelled for using the fine arts facilities and practice rooms to play non-Western music. Established in 1867 as an iconic HBCU, Howard was, ironically, oriented towards the white European canon. The campus of Howard University was a natural focal point.

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By that point, the civil rights movement was in full swing, with student sit-ins around the country demanding change. The run culminated with Slow Drag (recorded in May 1967).

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At that point, Byrd had cut a series of crackling bop albums with his quintet featuring Sonny Red on alto sax, Cedar Walton on piano, Walter Booker on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. вЂњWe are trying to discover what is black in this music,вЂќ he told the Washington Post back in 1968.

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(Beyond academia, he also earned his pilotвЂ™s license thatвЂ™s his plane on the cover of 1975вЂ™s Places and Spaces.)ДЄttendant to his studies and his successful career in jazz came an increasing awareness of being a black man in America. Byrd earned a law degree from Howard University and then his doctorate from ColumbiaвЂ™s Teachers College. Byrd went on to Manhattan School of Music to earn a masterвЂ™s degree and got a second from Columbia University. When he began gigging around New York City, he continued his education. The Detroit native earned a BachelorвЂ™s of Music from Wayne State University while playing in Air Force bands.

How Byrd leapt from hard bop classicism to hip jazz-funk occurred in the span of a few crucial records recorded in a fecund 3-year span starting in 1969: Fancy Free, Electric Byrd, Kofi, and Ethiopian Knights.ДЄnd it wasnвЂ™t mere musicianship that fueled this jump so much as ByrdвЂ™s life-long quest for knowledge, perception and deep understanding of his history as a Black man in America. Among those who sampled him: A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Erykah Badu, Public Enemy, 2Pac and J. That level of ubiquity led ByrdвЂ™s music a generation later to underpin the work of rappers, hip-hop producers and R&B artists who grew up on their parentsвЂ™ records. Such success put Byrd albums in any hip record collection in Black households. And in the 1970s, Byrd finally overtook the more established trumpeter, enjoying chart success and a pop fanbase, a rarity for a jazz musician during that decade. Obscured perhaps by the вЂњgreat men theoryвЂќ of jazz, Donald Byrd was at most one step behind Davis when it came to major innovations in the genre. Which trumpeter continued to push beyond the confines of jazz and hit upon the sound of the street and young black America in the 1970s? Who did the critics hate with a passion, leveling at him the heretical cry of вЂњsell outвЂќ?Д«efore you blurt out вЂњMiles DavisвЂќ know that this trumpeter was Donaldson Toussaint LвЂ™Ouverture Byrd II. Pop quiz: name the famous jazz trumpeter that got his start in bop and yet continued on to greater success for decades after? Who was the trumpeter responsible for discovering Herbie Hancock and putting him on in his band? Who continued to evolve throughout his career, moving first away from a well-regarded quintet and embracing then-controversial electronic instrumentation in the late 60s?