Donald Byrd
Acting
Biography
Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II (December 9, 1932 – February 4, 2013) was an American jazz and rhythm & blues trumpeter, composer and vocalist. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd was one of the few hard bop musicians who successfully explored funk and soul while remaining a jazz artist. As a bandleader, Byrd was an influence on the early career of Herbie Hancock and many others.
Known For
The unintentional shooting by police of a star basketball player has profound personal, political and community repercussions in this acclaimed adaptation of the novel Hog Butcher by Ronald Fair. This was one of the more thoughtful urban dramas produced at the height of the "blaxploitation" craze. Also released under the title Hit the Open Man, it features the screen debut of Laurence Fishburne, who was barely a teenager at the time.
Cornbread, Earl and Me
A musical documentary accompaniment to the 1994 benefit compilation album concerning AIDS in the African-American community.
Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool
A native of Wilmington, Delaware, jazz trumpeter Clifford Brown made an outstanding and influential contribution to music. In an era when many musicians were emulating Charlie Parker’s drug abuse, Brown inspired others to achieve greatness while living a clean life. Ironically, he was killed in a car accident at the age of 25. This feature-length documentary presents a richly detailed account of Brown’s life, and examines his historical importance in the context of three criteria–innovation, influence, and individuality.
Brownie Speaks
An extraordinary, lucid and lyrical documentary of Morocco, unique in that it conveys both the exterior and interior values of the country. "The richest, boldest and most subtly disciplined evocation of a place that I have ever seen on film. It is as if all the impulse toward lyrical pattern had found an objective correlative in the walls, the steps, the tiles, the dense calligraphic decoration, the shaded windows and veiled eyes of the city." – Roger Greespun, New York Times