Lyrics | Artists | The Blackbyrds

The Blackbyrds

Best known for the 1974 hit single “Walking in Rhythm,” The Blackbyrds is a jazz / funk fusion band founded in Washington, D.C. in 1973. Drawing comparisons with the likes of Sly & the Family Stone, Parliament and Earth, Wind & Fire, The Blackbyrds created some of the smoothest, most soulful funk of the 1970s, and were later sampled by scores of 1990s hip hop acts. At the time of their formation, iconic jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd headed the jazz studies department at Howard University, and he encouraged some of his students to form a band. Calling themselves The Blackbyrds and le...