Pairs Well With Outside

The hammock is back! Happy Summer Friday!

The radio DJs who kept things breezy in the early ‘70s had some not-exactly-secret weapons — upbeat, invitingly easygoing tracks that sounded like they were designed for late afternoon hanging in the great outdoors. Among them: Much of the music recorded by Washington D.C.-based Blackbyrds on Flying Start (1974) and City Life (1975).

The group, masterminded by trumpeter Donald Byrd and featuring keyboardist Kevin Toney (who died in March) and drummer Keith Killgo, gathered R&B, funk, jazz fusion and proto-disco club rhythms, then added undemanding yet deceptively addictive melodies. Hear “Walking In Rhythm” one time and you know its bouyant gait forever. Ditto “Thankful ‘Bout Yourself,” a low-key gem that belongs in the pantheon of greak expressions of gratitude. And then there’s “Rock Creek Park,” which has been reanimated by Nas, De La Soul and Eric B. and Rakim, among others.

Listening now, some 50 years on, it’s possible to marvel at the Blackbyrds’ component parts, the lyricism of its soloists and the liquidity of its grooves. While these records stand up to all kinds of analytical scrutiny, they’re also instant mood elevators on an early summer playlist.