The Charlie Byrd Trio
Born in Suffolk, Virginia in 1925, Charlie Byrd grew up in the nearby Tidewater community of Chuckatuck. During the Great Depression, his father, a mandolin and guitar player, ran a general store where musicians gathered. When Charles was 10 his dad taught him the acoustic steel guitar. After a while, the family played on radio shows, including his bass playing brother Joe who would eventually become a member of the Charlie Byrd Trio.
In his teens, Charlie attended the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and played in the school orchestra before joining the Army in 1943. He saw combat, but was eventually stationed in Jazz infused 1945 Paris as part of the Army Special Services band. At this time, he saw Django Reinhardt perform whom he accredited to being one of his earliest influences.
At the end of WW II, he moved to New York to study composition and jazz theory at the Manhattan Harnett National Music School which eventually led to his life-long interest in classical guitar. Starting with a move to Washington, D.C. in 1950, he studied classical guitar with Sophocles Papos and then in 1954 he traveled to Italy to become a pupil of the classical guitarist legend Andres Segovia.
By 1957 he was recording with Savoy as The Charlie Byrd Duo with Tom Newson on flute. The same year he meets double bassist Keter Betts which marks the beginning of a long collaboration. Other musicians associated with the Charlie Byrd trio include Vince Guaraldi, Bill Harris, Nat Adderley and drummer Jimmy Campbell. Key associates include Barney Kessel and Herb Ellis with whom he published as The Great Guitars. His discography is too long to list, but recordings of note are:
* Au Courant
* Bossa Nova years
* Byrd At The Gate
* Byrd in the Wind
* I've Got the World on a String
Through his trio and otherwise, Charlie Byrd is widely know for having brought together Classical, Jazz, Blues and later, most notably, with Stan Getz, Bossa Nova. One important distinction to note is how Charlie was not motivated by a desire to create what was to later become fusion. Rather, he sought to contain the integrity of each form while contrasting their complementary features. The hot blooded swing of Jazz should not be inhibited by classical technical purity; nor should the delicate and precise lyricism of classical form be washed away by out of context Jazz riffs.
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