Artist's albums
City Life/Unfinished Business
1999 · album
Action
1994 · album
Greatest Hits
1989 · compilation
City Life
1975 · album
Flying Start
1974 · album
Gotta Fly
2012 · album
The Blackbyrds
1974 · album
Lovebyrds (Smooth And Easy)
2007 · album
Happy Music: The Best Of The Blackbyrds
2007 · compilation
Similar artists
The Sylvers
Artist
Bobbi Humphrey
Artist
Lonnie Liston Smith
Artist
Eddie Kendricks
Artist
The New Birth
Artist
Roy Ayers Ubiquity
Artist
Donald Byrd
Artist
Ronnie Laws
Artist
Tom Browne
Artist
Norman Connors
Artist
Slave
Artist
Leroy Hutson
Artist
Michael Henderson
Artist
Ohio Players
Artist
Roy Ayers
Artist
Mandrill
Artist
The Jones Girls
Artist
Dexter Wansel
Artist
Gene Harris
Artist
Biography
The Blackbyrds were a jazz-funk group with thick R&B streaks running down their backs. Assembled by Donald Byrd in 1974, the group's original members -- percussionist Pericles "Perk" Jacobs, Jr., drummer Keith Killgo, keyboardist Kevin Toney, reeds player Allan Barnes, bassist Joe Hall, guitarist Barney Perry -- were mined from Howard University's music department, where the doctor and jazz legend was an instructor. (Other key players included guitarist Orville Saunders and saxophonist/flautist Steve Johnson.) During the Blackbyrds' nearly decade-long existence, the group cut a handful of LPs (1973's The Blackbyrds, 1974's Flying Start, 1975's City Life, 1976's Unfinished Business, 1977's Action, 1980's Better Days); scored films (1975's Cornbread, Earl and Me); and supported artists like B.B. King, Mandrill, and Roberta Flack. "Walking in Rhythm," "Rock Creek Park," and "Happy Music" are their three best-known cuts; they have remained underground club classics, and they have been kept alive, in part, through sampling. The group's catalog has been overhauled and reissued a number of times; multiple best-ofs have been released (Fantasy's Greatest Hits is the strongest and most thorough), and most of the group's full-length output has been put out on CD through two-fers. As far as outside activities were considered, Barney Perry released a solo album under the name Blair in 1978 (through his own Solar Sound imprint). The remaining members' involvements are far too extensive to list. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi