"Chant" is an instrumental composition by the American pianist and composer Duke Pearson (1932-1980). It has no lyrics but features a wordless choir directed by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson. The original recording is by trumpeter Donald Byrd, made on 12 January 1963 at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and produced by Alfred Lion for Blue Note. It was released in early February 1964 on the album A New Perspective, where it is the fifth track, running 7:31 and credited to Pearson, who also arranged it. The band includes Hank Mobley on tenor saxophone, Herbie Hancock on piano, Kenny Burrell on guitar, Butch Warren on bass and Lex Humphries on drums.
The piece is a hard bop or soul-jazz work lasting about seven and a half minutes. The album fuses jazz with spirituals, and Byrd called the music a "modern hymnal". Later recordings include versions by Thad Jones and Pepper Adams, and by Benny Green and Dmitry Baevsky.
