The iconic cover featuring the trumpet player posing with a 60s Jaguar sports car alone would make Donald Byrd’s 1964 LP worth purchasing, but even if the record had come housed in a hessian sack it would be considered a milestone in jazz. There’s a religious theme within A New Perspective, evident both in the titles of its five tracks — “Elijah,” “Beast Of Burden,” “Christo Redentor,” “Black Disciple,” “Chant” — and the vocal choir that floats over the effortless bop of Byrd’s assembled players, but more than anything, it’s the freedom and diversity of the soloists (including Herbie Hancock on piano) as they stretch out beyond the parameters of “cool” jazz that lays the foundations for the next level spiritual excursions of John Coltrane.

“Because of my own background, I’ve always wanted to write an entire album of spiritual-like pieces,” Donald Byrd wrote in the liner notes to A New Perspective. “The most accurate way I can describe what we were all trying to do is that this is a modern hymnal.” For his eighth Blue Note album in five years, Donald Byrd assembled a septet featuring pianist Herbie Hancock, guitarist Kenny Burrell, and tenor man Hank Mobley. But he also brought in a gospel choir, adding wordless vocals that add angelic uplift to the proceedings. It was a bold move at the time, adding spirituality to the ambitious charts from arranger Duke Pearson, a sound one part Saturday night club and Sunday morning pulpit. At the time, Blue Note didn’t know what to do with this “new perspective,” sitting on the album for a year until finally releasing it in early 1964. But it became a success for the label, as well as an augur of greater spiritual works in jazz still to come.