A New Perspective is a 1964 studio album by jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd. It was released on the Blue Note label as BLP 4124 and BST 84124.
In 2017, it was ranked at number 194 on Pitchforks list of the "200 Best Albums of the 1960s". The album was remastered by Rudy Van Gelder in 1998.
Inspiration The album features a fusion of jazz with spirituals, and features a vocal choir singing wordlessly to accompany the instruments.
About the project, Byrd said: "I mean this album seriously. Because of my own background, I've always wanted to write an entire album of spiritual-like pieces. The most accurate way I can describe what we were all trying to do is that this is a modern hymnal. In an earlier period, the New Orleans jazzmen would often play religious music for exactly what it was - but with their own jazz textures and techniques added. Now, as modern jazzmen, we're also approaching this tradition with respect and great pleasure."Original liner notes
Track listing
Personnel Donald Byrd – trumpet Hank Mobley – tenor saxophone Herbie Hancock – piano Kenny Burrell – guitar Donald Best – vibraphone, vocals Butch Warren – bass Lex Humphries – drums Duke Pearson – arranger Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson – choir direction Unidentified vocalists: Four men (two basses, two tenors) and four women (two altos, two sopranos) Technical Rudy Van Gelder – recording Reid Miles – cover design, cover photography
Charts Chart Peakposition US Billboard 200 110
References
Further reading
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