Caricatures (Donald Byrd album)

The AllMusic review by Rob Theakston awarded the album 3 stars and stated "Caricatures serves its primary purpose of being a jazz fusion record to make both people dance and purists wince at the notion that jazz can fuse with other elements and achieve success".[2] This comes across as a negative but indeed Byrd had been creating jazz to cross over to other audiences as early as his seminal 1963 release "A New Perspective". This album has a slicker, more produced feel to it than his previous '70s albums but contains fine performances from Patrice Rushen, John Rowin and Scott Edwards.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]

All compositions by Larry Mizell Byrd except as indicated

1. "Dance Band" (Larry Mizell, Fonce Mizell) - 6:13
2. "Wild Life" (Mizell, Mizell) - 5:59
3. "Caricatures" - 5:10
4. "Science Funktion" (Mizell, Mizell) 4:50
5. "Dancing in the Street" (Marvin Gaye, Ivy Jo Hunter, William "Mickey" Stevenson) - 4:43
6. "Return of the King" (Mizell, Mizell) - 4:51
7. "Onward 'Til Morning" - 3:47
8. "Tell Me" (Donald Byrd, Larry Mizell) - 4:20

• Recorded at The Sound Factory, Los Angeles, California in April–May, 1976

• Donald Byrd - trumpet, flugelhorn, vocals
• Oscar Brashear - trumpet
• George Bohanon - trombone
• Gary Bartz, Ernie Watts - saxophones
• Jerry Peters, Patrice Rushen, Skip Scarborough - keyboards
• Fonce Mizell - keyboards, trumpet, backing vocals
• John Rowin, Bernard Beloyd Taylor, David T. Walker - guitar
• Scott Edwards (tracks 2-8), James Jamerson (track 1) - electric bass
• Alphonse Mouzon (tracks 1-5), Harvey Mason (track 1) - drums
• Mayuto Correa, Stephanie Spruill - percussion
• Mildred Lane (tracks 2 & 5), Kay Haith (tracks 3 & 7) - lead vocals
• Theresa Mitchell, Vernessa Mitchell, Larry Mizell - backing vocals
• Wade Marcus - string arrangement
• Unidentified strings