The Blackbyrds - City Life (Deluxe Edition / Remastered 2025) (1975/2025)

Featuring “Happy Music,” and “Rock Creek Park,” described by AllMusic as “one of the pinnacles of ‘70s jazz-funk” and sampled by the likes of De La Soul and Nas, the Billboard Jazz Chart-topping City Life finds The Blackbyrds at the height of their hitmaking powers.

If you hear about a jazz ensemble formed among college students under the tutelage of the established bebop master heading up their school's jazz studies program, you probably have a preconception about the sort of music that group is going to make. That expectation is likely dominated by straightforward renditions of songbook classics played with hushed reverence, polished precision, and little deviation from tradition. While that is the sort of music that some college jazz groups make, the case couldn't have been more different for the Howard University students who got together in 1973, inspired by the work of their professor, trumpeter Donald Byrd. By the early '70s, Byrd's recordings had precious little to do with the hard bop he built his career on in the two decades prior; he had already successfully found a way to incorporate soulful undercurrents and electrically exploratory ideas into groundbreaking (and devastatingly funky) albums like Street Lady and Electric Byrd. While Byrd's primary role in the Blackbyrds was inspiration and, alongside Larry Mizell (who had successfully guided him throughout his fusion period), production and composition, the impact of his contemporaneous work—most notably, the driving, proto-disco Street Lady cut "Lansana's Priestess"—is inseparable from musical philosophy of the Blackbyrds.

More commercially-oriented with plenty of soulful group vocals and Earth Wind & Fire-style horns, Blackbyrds' first two albums (both released in 1974) were monster hits, thanks to singles like "Walking In Rhythm" and "Do It, Fluid." Incredibly, they were able to continue their streak with 1975's City Life, which contains two iconic tracks, the sultry summer jam "Rock Creek Park" and the ineffable (and quite accurately titled) "Happy Music," both of which featured guest vocals from Merry Clayton. Clayton wasn't the only guest here though; in addition to the core Blackbyrds quintet, Larry and Fonce Mizell are present, and players like Patrice Rushen, George Bohanon, and Gary Bartz show up. (No trumpet lines from Byrd though.) In fact, the horns are generally pulled back on many of the arrangements on City Life, inverting the R&B-to-jazz proportions of their previous two albums. "All I Ask" resembles War at their mellowest grooves, while the lush arrangements of "Flying High" are custom-built for the discotheque. It makes for a more varied album, but also points the way to the decidedly diminishing returns the group would have on their later albums. Nonetheless, City Life is probably the group at their best, demonstrating a deft take on "fusion" that has as much personality as it does musicality. This expanded edition not only includes a marvelously remastered version of the original album but single edits and disco mixes of City Life's singles. © Jason Ferguson

Tracklist
1. Rock Creek Park (Remastered 2025) (4:39)
2. Thankful 'bout Yourself (Remastered 2025) (5:13)
3. City Life (Remastered 2025) (5:25)
4. All I Ask (Remastered 2025) (3:53)
5. Happy Music (Remastered 2025) (4:58)
6. Love So Fine (Remastered 2025) (5:03)
7. Flying High (Remastered 2025) (3:33)
8. Hash and Eggs (Remastered 2025) (5:12)
9. Happy Music (Single Version / Remastered 2025) (3:05)
10. Happy Music (Disco Mix / Remastered 2025) (6:08)
11. Rock Creek Park (Single Version / Remastered 2025) (3:46)
12. Rock Creek Park (12" Version / Remastered 2025) (6:17)
13. All I Ask (Long Version / Remastered 2025) (5:03)