DEWAYNE "BLACKBYRD" MCKNIGHT

The jazz/funk/fusion veteran on his smooth segue from Herbie Hancock sideman to full-on Funkdaledic member -plus his '70s gear and what he learned from Shuggie Otis

- Andrew Daly

IN 1970, DEWAYNE “Blackbyrd” McKnight was a 16-year-old guitar wunderkind with stars in his eyes. He had the chops; all he needed was someone to notice him, which didn’t take long, as jazz legend Charles Lloyd had taken a shine to McKnight by the time he’d turned 18.

At the time, McKnight was a Stratloving teen whose smoky tone and nose for what pedals to combine with what amps quickly made him a hot commodity on the early Seventies jazz-fusion scene. But none of it would have happened had Lloyd not given him his start. “Charles Lloyd is the first of the incredibly talented jazz greats I worked with,” McKnight tells Guitar World. “This man knows every-thing there is to know about music, and then some. I thank him for his patience and guidance throughout my stint with his band.”

McKnight took that guidance to heart, quickly securing gigs with Herbie Hancock while starring on records by Sonny Rollins, Alphonso Johnson and Bennie Maupin. By 1975, McKnight was still just 21 and swaggering with confidence. “I had fun playing with those guys the first time we jammed,” he says. “When it was all said and done, Paul Jackson told me, ‘You’re the first person that came in and wasn’t afraid to play with us.’ So, when I go into a situation, I go in, be myself, do what I do, and the rest will take care of itself.”