Charlie Byrd - Byrd By the Sea (Fantasy)

Certainly a serious contender in any “Ugliest Album Cover” contest this concert recording by Charlie Byrd is also one of the guitar albums I reach for most. Byrd was one of those bonafide virtuosos who had the Zelig-like ability of being at the right place at the right time, repeatedly. A student of Segovia, a jam-partner of Django Reinhardt, a cornerstone of the bossa nova movement through his work on Stan Getz’s Jazz Samba, and a man with an inveterate sweet tooth for pop tunes from Tin Pan Alley to A.M. radio, he was a walking set of contradictions when gauged against the archetypal recital guitarist of the 60s and 70s. Despite his massive chops and near-regal pedigree he always remained an unapologetic populist at heart- the Jack Nicholson character in the film Five Easy Pieces, hold the anger and angst. This set, recorded at Redondo Beach, CA in 1974 as part of a Howard Rumsey concert series and expanded to twice its length for the cd reissue, features him in what was probably his favorite format, dipping into a conspicuously eclectic songbook in front of a responsive audience. Brother Joe girds his gilded chords on acoustic and electric basses and the “paint brushes on coffee cans and phonebooks” percussion of Bertell Knox completes the triangle. Byrd’s amplified Spanish guitar approaches the program as an equal opportunist, applying the same industry and brio to each tune regardless of its provenance. Whether it’s a mellow, but slinky rundown of Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly With His Song” where the Byrd has fun fooling the audience with a false ending and drawing out premature applause, or a pastoral reading of Vivaldi’s “Concerto in G” that evokes the ambience of a sun-dappled country courtyard in spring the results are always marvelously listenable. Also of special note on the scorecard, Jobim’s “Wave,” Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean Thing” and a gorgeous interpretation of “Norwegian Wood” that finds Byrd adding rippling syncopations to the familiar wistful theme. Conservatively speaking, I’ve probably listened to this disc a hundred times and the replay value has yet to atrophy. Calling Byrd the Bird of the guitar in terms of the reach of his artistry and worth doesn’t seem a stretch by my estimation.