On A New Perspective, Donald Byrd imagines hard bop through stained glass, fronting a band with Hank Mobley on tenor saxophone, Herbie Hancock on piano, Kenny Burrell on guitar, Donald Best on vibraphone, Butch Warren on bass, Lex Humphries on drums, and a wordless choir led by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson. Byrd’s trumpet sits at the crossroads of church, street, and conservatory, with the choir’s sustained voicings bathing the grooves in a luminous, spiritual glow. The brass and rhythm section move with familiar snap and syncopation, but above them the voices rise and fall in long arcs, turning each composition into a modern hymn. It’s a bold synthesis of jazz language and sacred atmosphere, one that still feels singular in its blend of grit and grace.