Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II[1] (December 9, 1932 – February 4, 2013) was an American jazz and rhythm & blues trumpeter and vocalist.

His father, Elijah Thomas Byrd, was a Methodist minister who greatly valued education and oversaw his son's schooling.

He's a born educator, it seems to be in his blood, and he really tried to encourage the development of creativity.Hancock also recalled that Byrd helped him in many other ways: he encouraged Hancock to make his debut album for Blue Note, connected him with Mongo Santamaria, who turned Hancock's tune "Watermelon Man" into a chart-topping hit, and that Byrd also later urged him to accept Miles Davis' offer to join his quintet.

Thanks to Santamaria's subsequent hit cover version of "Watermelon Man", Hancock was soon receiving substantial royalties, and he used his first royalty check of $6,000 to buy his first car, a 1963 Shelby Cobra (also recommended by Byrd) which Hancock still owns, and which is now the oldest production Cobra still in its original owner's hands.

He teamed up with the Mizell Brothers (producer-writers Larry and Fonce) for Black Byrd (1973) which was, for many years, Blue Note's best-selling album.

The Mizell brothers' follow-up albums for Byrd, Street Lady, Places and Spaces and Stepping into Tomorrow, were also big sellers, and have subsequently provided a rich source of samples for acid jazz artists such as Us3.

In 1973, he helped to establish and co-produce the Blackbyrds, a fusion group consisting of then-student musicians from Howard University,[2] where Byrd taught in the music department and earned his J.D.

During his tenure at North Carolina Central University during the 1980s, he formed a group which included students from the college called the "125th St NYC Band".

[8] With Art Blakey With Kenny Burrell With Paul Chambers With Sonny Clark With Kenny Clarke With John Coltrane With Eric Dolphy With Lou Donaldson With Red Garland With Dexter Gordon With Guru With Hank Jones With Hank Mobley With Jackie McLean With Duke Pearson With Oscar Pettiford With Sonny Rollins With Horace Silver With Jimmy Smith With George Wallington With others