Donald Byrd – Byrd In Hand

I'm not usually the biggest fan of Byrd's catalog. I don't really have a problem with his playing style, but on an album by album basis his stuff usually misses the mark for me. Byrd In Hand is an exception. A fine selection of standards and originals played with beautiful lyricism and a nice intangible chemistry between the band.

The recording is impressive for a 50s session in the original RVG home studio. There is great clarity all around. The stereo spread isn't tremendously wide, but there's a nice symmetrical separation in where the instruments are placed and how they are miked up. It's about in the same ballpark as other great 50s recordings like Blue Train and Cool Struttin.

This CD is a pretty good presentation of the material. The EQ and dynamics are good as with most in this series. This particular master sounds perhaps a tad thin by a hair, but really it's a great way to listen to this album. I'm a pretty firm believer that in most cases you don't need to shell out thousands of dollars on early LP pressings or specialty vinyl reissues to appreciate the audio of these albums. Between the McMasters, original Toshiba transfers, and other series like the AP SACDs, there are really high quality CDs that can have their potential truly brought out on a nice system!

Sounds Like Shit 👍If it says Electronically Re-Recorded To Simulate STEREO' Do Not Buy

absolutely stunning album and pressing, Byrd and Adams confirm their top level skills

This is an extremely good, well balanced, sounding DMM. Definitely worth picking up.

Beautiful album and top-notch in the room sound quality. This sucker will blow you away. Mastering by the legendary Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray. Really nice playing allowing for spaces between the instruments and recording quality outstanding. Get it while you still can as it won’t be topped.

This is a surprisingly good pressing! Totally flat and very few noises. Sounds good, really happy with it.

Pleasantly surprised with the over all quality of this recording. I recently copied this LP and Byrd In Flight (Blue Note Tone Poet series) to digital format so I could listen to them in my car and I was amazed at how well this LP performed in comparison to the Blue Note pressing. I am now looking at the Vinyl age catalog to see what other gems I may find there. It's also fair to mention that the music is exceptional - a highly recommended LP no matter the label or the format.

This is a fantastic album. The songs are beautiful and so well laid down, you can play this one for hours back/back. They did an outstanding job on the pressing as well. This is a mono version and the sound is so on point with instruments bouncing left to right. The sound floor is so quiet - I hear no surface noise on my copy. Glad I added this one to my collection.

Byrd's second date as leader with Blue Note, again he goes with a sextet. "Witchcraft" and "Here I am" are excellent. The rest's all OK.