Donald Byrd - Royal Flush (Blue Note Tone Poet Series)

Donald Byrd was off to the races after joining the Blue Note roster in 1958 and had fully hit his hard bop stride by 1961 when he laid down his excellent album Royal Flush. Joining the trumpeter was a state-of-the-art rhythm section featuring a young Herbie Hancock on piano (Hancock was making just his 2nd appearance on a Blue Note recording date following Byrd's Chant session earlier that year), Butch Warren on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums, along with Byrd's frequent frontline collaborator Pepper Adams on baritone saxophone.

Side 1 consists of two Byrd originals — "Hush" and "Jorgie's" — which bookend a showstopping performance of the Frank Sinatra ballad "I'm A Fool To Want You." Side 2 opens with two more pieces by Byrd — "Shangri-La" and "6M's" — before the set comes to a close with Hancock's original "Requiem."

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Optimal.