DONALD BYRD — Caricatures (review)

Album · 1976 · Funk Jazz

4.5/5 · 2025-04-09
FunkFreak75

Donald and the Mizell Brothers pull together another high-powered all-star band around them including three full-time guitarists, three full-time keyboard masters, two full-time percussionists, a strings orchestra with conductor, and no less than six a-lister horn players. And they deliver!

A1. "Dance Band" (6:09) opens like a funky pop song with banked horn accents until Donald steps up to the microphone to sing. He's got quite the voice! One that reminds me of or Morris Day. The singing section is brief, only really an introduction, cuz what follows is a lot of solos: trumpet, saxophone, . "Who-up!" choral vocals arrive in the fourth minute with the alto sax, then drop off when the PARLIAMENTarian vocals and scatting return. Thereafter, the girls appear here and there while the male lead continues to jive and Donald injects his solo trumpet. Quite the party funk tune! High marks for musicianship and enthusiasm. (Not quite the Jazz-Rock Fusion direction I was hoping for.) (9/10)

A2. "Wild Life" (5:58) one of those classic Mizell Brothers compositions that is based on the repetition of a very simple one-measure highly-dictatorial rhythmic motif. Lead female singer (Mildred Lane) takes the fore as the horns and strings fill space in and around the repeating motif. Trumpet and tenor sax get the first two solos as the female-dominated background vocals continue to inject repeated phrasings of the title phrase. Flugelhorn gets the final solo as Mildred finishes the song. (9.125/10)

A3. "Caricatures" (5:08) another Mizell Brothers composition (this one actually being credited to Larry alone), this one using a variation of the bass 'n' drum rhythm track of Kool & The Gang's "Hollywood Swinging." Male-dominated vocals work their group-chant throughout the song with accents and incidentals coming from female background vocalists and a variety of horns, percussives, and percussive keyboards (clavinet, et al. Having three highly skilled keyboard players on board for every song sure does help enrich the sonicsphere!) Some smooth flugelhorn in the fifth minute before the men's final run-through of the main group vocal line. (8.875/10)

A4. "Science Funktion" (4:49) Mizell Brothers have a lot of ideas! They're feeling like the Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis of the 1970s! This rich and fulfilling mostly-instrumental is a more spacious composition still using their brief one-measure motif to build a song around there are pre-CAMEO synths snaking around in front and back. I really like the way this inventive sonic field is constructed. Choppy trumpet up front is joined by male choir chant vocals for the final 90 seconds. Man bassist Scott Edwards can roll around on that bass! (9.125/10)

B1. "Dancing In The Street" (4:40) yes, it's a cover of the classic Martha & The Vandellas Motown song from Marvin Gaye, Jaye Hunter, and Stevenson. Mildred Lane is given the spotlight again but her performance/rendition is never intended to imitate the original, but instead kind offer a kind of Thelma Houston or Gloria Gaynor "R&B cover version" of it. I like it but it does feel a bit as if it's meant to back a sparkly 1970s dance routine on Soul Train. (8.75/10)

B2. "Return Of The King" (4:50) a Rodney Mizell composition, it sounds like a precursor to KajaGoogoo's monster hit (ten years later), "Too Shy" before taking a slight turn (or two) into a nice FREDDIE HUBBARD-like song. Male group vocals take up the repeat chant of the title in the third minute. (8.875/10)

B3. "Onward 'Til Morning" (3:45) a smoother tune that sounds like something Barry White might have composed for his Love Unlimited Orchestra. Awesome piano, rhythm guitar, clavinet, orchestral arrangements, and horn performances over and a part of the smooth rhythm section. Donald's own solo in the middle is definitely a highlight of this Larry Mizell-penned song. (9.3333/10)

B4. "Tell Me" (4:18) the only Donald Byrd composition on the album, it sounds quite similar to the two-chord, one measure motifs so common to those of the Mizell Brothers. Donald enters, speaking the lyrics of his daily-nightly search-walks for his loved one for more than a minute while the horns and rhythm instruments play around him, then around the 90-second mark he reaches back to sing his request for his baby's answer to where she's been, what's on her mind, is she all right. Interesting diary entry type song over great music). (8.875/10)

Total Time: 39:58

As far as the funk goes, the Mizell Brothers are among the best there was! As far as the music goes, there are some very fine and tightly-coordinated performances from a group of top notch, highly-refined musicians--a lot of it channeled through filters and processes that were quite popular at that time in the Motown, Philly, Jersey/NYC, and D.C. music scenes.

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of very high quality Funked-up Jazz-Rock Fusion--a lot of it with R&B vocals as were popular in the American Black music scene at the time. This is an sadly unheard and underappreciated contribution to that niche of music--some of the finest you might ever hear!