Praise for Eric Byrd Trio

If you like spiritual music and good jazz then the mixture of both might just be worth checking out.

-Bruce Von Stiers, BVS Reviews

This crew might take jazz to church but the results are good timing, ecumenical music for all. Solid swingers that must have spent some time in the sanctified church to feel free to swing like this, a good time will be had by all even if you’re being purified while the date plays. Winning stuff that’s good for both religion and jazz.

-Midwest Record

Pianist Eric Byrd brings his trio of Bhagwan Khalsa/b and Alphonso Young Jr/dr along with first time visitors Terell Stafford/tp and Tim Warfield/sax for Sunday morning stomping versions of traditional hymns and spirituals. Pieces like the modal “Calvary” or funky “I Want Jesus To Walk With Me” can only be performed and sung by a guy like Byrd if he’s been sitting in the pews for awhile, and he sounds like he was weaned on Vacation Bible School.

-George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly

“Throughout his trio’s concert at the Kennedy Center, Eric Byrd sounded as if he were strolling through a southern town, taking in the spiritual sounds of the church house one moment and the earthy rumble of the roadhouse the next. Rousing gospel-tinged chords and trilling blues runs are fundamental elements of Byrd’s piano style, along with the principles of swing and bop, and he used these techniques to expressive effect throughout the concert.

-Mike Joyce, music journalist, Washington Post

Eric Byrd hints at his gospel background just by his song titles and shows it in the first track, “Sunday Mo’nin’ Chu’ch”, a rollicking piece of Bobby Timmons-style gospel Blues that the trio swings manfully.  On “Nanami” he switches gears again and uses the hard and fast attack of McCoy Tyner.  On a few tracks Byrd even sings in a soulful tenor.  This is an impressive statement for Eric Byrd with a strong sense of soul and divine inspiration.

– Cadence Magazine