Donald Byrd

Places and Spaces is the 1975 album that brought Donald Byrd's work with producers Larry Mizell and Fonce Mizell to its peak. Byrd had joined Blue Note in 1958 as a hard bop trumpeter. Since Black Byrd in 1972 the Mizell brothers had steered him towards a funky, string-laden fusion of jazz, soul and R&B. It was his next to last album for the label, followed only by Caricatures.

The record was made in August 1975 at the Sound Factory in Los Angeles. Larry Mizell wrote or co-wrote most of the material and arranged it, while Wade Marcus arranged and conducted the strings. The rhythm section is a first-rate studio band, with Harvey Mason on drums and Chuck Rainey on Fender bass, plus two guitars, Fender Rhodes and two conga players. Byrd plays trumpet and flugelhorn and sings with the Mizells and Kay Haith.

Change (Makes You Want to Hustle) opens on a dance-floor beat, Byrd's horn floating over choppy guitars and strings. Wind Parade is a slow, sweeping tune with a melody that stays in the head, and Dominoes rides a tight bass and drum groove. Several pieces carry the soft vocal choruses typical of the Mizell sound. The second side ranges from the title track, written by both brothers, to a whistled theme on Night Whistler and a cover of the Temptations hit Just My Imagination.

On AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote of its "sweeping string arrangements, sultry rhythm guitars, rubbery bass", placing the music halfway between Byrd's Street Lady and the soul of Earth, Wind & Fire. Wind Parade, Dominoes and the title track were later sampled widely by hip hop producers. You and Music resurfaced in 2013 on a radio station of the video game Grand Theft Auto V.

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl edition is all analogue, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal. The printed inner sleeve is copied from the original.