Donald BYRD & 125th Street, N.Y.C. - Words, Sounds, Colors And Shapes - 1982

A definite soul based session for Donald Byrd -- and that's saying a lot here, because his previous decade's worth of work had all had some sort of R&B focus! The main force behind the set here is Isaac Hayes -- who's producing, arranging, and playing most of the keyboards on the album. Oddly, Ike's not singing at all -- and vocals are instead handled by Rose Williams, Diane Davis, Pat Lewis, and Myra Walker -- plus the Hot Buttered Soul group on backing vocals. Most tunes have such a strong vocal focus that Byrd's horn gets far less solo space than before -- but overall, the album's still got a nice mix of funky jazz and modern soul, and grooves a lot better than most other efforts of this nature from the time. Great, long overlooked grooves from Byrd! Titles include "Sexy Dancer", "Midnight", "High Energy", "Star Trippin", "Forbidden Love", and "Everyday".