Well, this is Donald’s last release on Blue Note Records from 1976. Again, he teamed up with Larry Mizell to produce a very tight and groovy fusion jazz album.
Comparing this record to older works of Donald Byrd like “A New Perspecitve”, it is very interesting to see how a musical genious evolved and developed his musical style.
“Caricatures” starts with “Dance Band”, which is a perfect representation of the overall sound of the album. Funky keys, string arrangements, soulful vocals and not to forget the groovy trumpet by Byrd himself. “Wild Life” is my favourite track, that has this sort of disco attitude without being as cheesy as popular disco productions of that time. “Caricatures” starts with a very funky bassline and more and more developes from that starting point. This song would be the perfect soundtrack for any Blaxploitation movie. “Science Funktion” sounds kind off psychadelic and spacey due to the use of synth parts. “Dancing In The Street” is the most uptempo track of the album….yeah well, the whole album is more or less uptempo.
“Return Of The King”, “Onward ‘Til Morning” and “Tell Me” are just three more fine incarnations of very enjoyable fusion jazz with disco, soul and funk elements, always featuring a fantastic Byrd trumpet.
Tracklist
- A1 – Dance Band
- A2 – Wild Life
- A3 – Caricatures
- A4 – Science Funktion
- B1 – Dancing In The Street
- B2 – Return Of The King
- B3 – Onward ‘Til Morning
- B4 – Tell Me
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