Monday, March 10, 2003
Jazz
Innovator Donald Byrd to Present at Lincoln University’s
Amos Scholarly Annual Lecture Series on March 19 at University’s
Chapel; Trumpet Great to Discuss Theory of Black Music,
Careers in Field
Trumpet great and jazz innovator
Donald Byrd
Lincoln
University, PA (www.lincoln.edu)— Trumpet great and
jazz innovator Donald Byrd will visit the Lincoln University
campus as part of the Amos Scholarly Lecture Series on
Thursday, March 19, at Mary Dod Brown Memorial Chapel.
The program begins at 4 p.m. and a reception will follow.
The event is open to the public.
Byrd
will discuss his legendary musical career, which includes
more than 50 albums/CDs, scores of other recordings and
artists with whom he’s performed and three Grammy
Award nominations. In addition, Byrd will discuss his
black music philosophy, his collection and support of
African-American visual arts and what young people entering
the music industry can expect. Byrd, whose unique blend
of jazz, funk and rhythm-and-blues, spans more than four
decades, is recognized as one of the key improvisers of
the “hard bop” era of the late 1950s and early
‘60s. Byrd continued to make his mark during the
1970s and 80s with one of the hottest contemporary jazz/funk
quintets of that era—Donald Byrd and The Blackbyrds.
The Blackbyrds are a by- product of Byrd’s music
and academia careers intertwining in the 70s—when
he served as chairman of Afro-American Studies at Howard
University.
While
at Howard, Byrd expanded many of the country’s university-level
jazz programs as a lecturer and performer who toured the
nation.
This
duel role and Byrd’s desire to focus on black jazz
or funk—helped him discover the five Howard University
music students who would ultimately form Blackbyrds—one
of the music industry’s top-selling bands during
the 70s and 80s. With such hits as Doing It In the Park
(Rock Creek Park), Walking in Rhythm and Happy Music during
the 70s, Donald created a sound that soon became known
as “jazz fusion” —a combination of jazz,
funk and rhythm-and-blues.
“We
are truly honored and pleased to have Donald Byrd take
part in the Amos Scholar’s Annual Lecture Series,”
said Dr. Alvin E. Amos, professor of Music for Lincoln’s
Department of Visual and Performing Arts. “Dr. Byrd’s
music is unmistakable and its impact on the world of “Jazz
has been particularly significant in some of the genres
that followed such as Rap/Hip Hop. Since I first met him
in the 70s, he has consistently been the consummate musician,
educator and musical ambassador who is willing to share
his knowledge and gifts with student of all ages. Our
students, faculty, staff and the public will certainly
enjoy interacting with him during the day in classes and
come out to hear this music icon.”
The
Blackbyrd’s cutting edge sound earned the group numerous
R & B awards and three Grammy Award nominations. A
life-long student and teacher, Byrd’s list of academic
and musical milestones are many. The Detroit native has
a doctorate in music education from Columbia University
and was instrumental in establishing the now-influential
jazz programs at Rutgers University, North Carolina University
and the New School for Social Research. He has also served
as acting head of the Afro-American/Jazz Studies Department
at the renowned Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio.
The
Amos Scholarly Lecture Series was founded by descendants
of Reverend Thomas Hunter Amos, founder and president
of Harbison College in Abbeville, S.C. His father, Thomas
Henry Amos, was a member of Lincoln University’s
first graduating class in 1859. Thomas Henry Amos died
as a missionary in Liberia, Africa. According to Amos
Lecture Series Committee, Rev. Thomas Hunter Amos’
descendants established the lecture series to “stimulate
the minds of the Lincoln family in pursuit of a liberal
arts education, with emphasis on the theological, philosophical,
classical, historical and scientific disciplines.”
Founded
in 1854 as the nation’s first Historically Black
University, Lincoln University combines the best elements
of a liberal arts and sciences-based undergraduate core
curriculum and selected graduate programs to meet the
needs of students living in a highly technological and
global society.
Lincoln
has the unprecedented distinction among all colleges and
universities of having two of its alumni honored with
U.S. commemorative stamps. Last month, the U.S. Postal
Service honored Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American
Supreme Court Justice, and a 1930 Lincoln University graduate,
by making him the 26th honoree in Black Heritage Commemorative
Series. Last February, the U.S. Postal Service also issued
a Commemorative, first class stamp for 1929 Lincoln alumnus
Langston Hughes, a world-acclaimed poet.
The
University is nationally recognized as a major producer
of African Americans with undergraduate degrees in the
physical sciences (biology, chemistry and physics); computer
and information sciences; and biological and life sciences.
From
April 2003 through May 2004, the University will celebrate
its sesquicentennial, or 150th anniversary, with an array
of campus and external events, activities and announcements.
For more information about Lincoln University, please
visit our Web site at www.lincoln.edu.
