Birdland (Weather Report song)

Last updated
"Birdland"
Single by Weather Report
from the album Heavy Weather
ReleasedApril 19, 1977
Genre Jazz fusion
Length5:58
Label Columbia, CBS, ARC
Songwriter(s) Joe Zawinul

"Birdland" is a jazz/pop song written by Joe Zawinul of the band Weather Report as a tribute to the Birdland nightclub in New York City, which appeared on the band's 1977 album Heavy Weather . The Manhattan Transfer won a Grammy Award with their 1979 version of the song, which had lyrics by Jon Hendricks. [1] Quincy Jones won two Grammy Awards for the version of the piece he included on his 1989 album Back on the Block . [2] The leading Cuban band Los Van Van included an extended interpolation of the piece in their song Tim Pop/Birdland.

Contents

History

"Birdland" opens Heavy Weather , the 1977 album that marked the commercial peak of Weather Report's career. The composition is a tribute to the famous New York City jazz club named Birdland that operated on Broadway from 1949 through 1965 and hosted many great jazz musicians of the era. This was where Zawinul, who visited the club almost daily, heard performances by Count Basie, [3] Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Miles Davis. It was also where he met his wife, Maxine. [4] Looking back, Zawinul claimed, "The old Birdland was the most important place in my life." [5] The song was also named in honor of Charlie Parker. According to Jaco Pastorius in a 1978 interview, the studio version of the song released on Heavy Weather was recorded in just one take. [6]

The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings comments that “Birdland” typifies the formula that made the band successful, and “is one of only a handful of contemporary jazz tunes that everyone seems to have heard.” [7]

Personnel

Awards and honors

The Weather Report recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2010. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jaco Pastorius</span> American jazz bassist (1951–1987)

John Francis "Jaco" Pastorius III was an American jazz bassist, composer, and producer. He recorded albums as a solo artist and band leader and was a member of the jazz fusion group Weather Report from 1976 to 1981. He also collaborated with numerous artists, including Pat Metheny and Joni Mitchell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dinah Washington</span> American singer, songwriter, pianist (1924–1963)

Dinah Washington was an American singer and pianist, one of the most popular black female recording artists of the 1950s. Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performed and recorded in a wide variety of styles including blues, R&B, and traditional pop music, and gave herself the title of "Queen of the Blues". She was a 1986 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weather Report</span> American jazz fusion band

Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band active from 1970 to 1986. The band was founded in 1970 by Austrian keyboardist Joe Zawinul, American saxophonist Wayne Shorter, Czech bassist Miroslav Vitouš, American drummer Alphonse Mouzon as well as American percussionists Don Alias and Barbara Burton. The band was initially co-led by co-frontmen Zawinul and Shorter but, subsequently as the 1970s progressed, Zawinul largely became the sole musical leader of the group. Other prominent members at various points in the band's lifespan included Jaco Pastorius, Alphonso Johnson, Victor Bailey, Chester Thompson, Peter Erskine, Airto Moreira, and Alex Acuña. Throughout most of its existence, the band was a quintet consisting of Zawinul, Shorter, a bass guitarist, a drummer, and a percussionist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Zawinul</span> Austrian jazz keyboardist and composer (1932–2007)

Josef Erich Zawinul was an Austrian jazz and jazz fusion keyboardist and composer. First coming to prominence with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, Zawinul went on to play with Miles Davis and to become one of the creators of jazz fusion, a musical genre that combined jazz with rock. He co-founded the groups Weather Report and The Zawinul Syndicate. He pioneered the use of electric piano and synthesizer, and was named "Best Electric Keyboardist" twenty-eight times by the readers of DownBeat magazine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Manhattan Transfer</span> American vocal music group

The Manhattan Transfer is an American vocal group founded in 1969, performing a cappella, vocalese, swing, standards, Brazilian jazz, rhythm and blues, and pop music. The group has won eleven Grammy Awards.

<i>8:30</i> 1979 live album by Weather Report

8:30 is the second live album from the jazz fusion group Weather Report, issued in 1979 by ARC/Columbia Records. The album rose to No. 3 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart and No. 47 on the Billboard 200 chart. 8:30 also won a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance.

<i>Heavy Weather</i> (album) 1977 studio album by Weather Report

Heavy Weather is the seventh album by Weather Report, released in 1977 through Columbia Records. The release sold about 500,000 copies; it would prove to be the band's most commercially successful album and one of the best sellers in the Columbia jazz catalog. DownBeat magazine gave Heavy Weather a 5-star review, and later its readers voted it jazz album of the year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toots Thielemans</span> Belgian jazz musician and harmonica player (1922–2016)

Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans, known professionally as Toots Thielemans, was a Belgian jazz musician. He was mostly known for playing the chromatic harmonica, as well as his guitar and whistling skills, and composing. According to jazz historian Ted Gioia, his most important contribution was in "championing the humble harmonica", which Thielemans made into a "legitimate voice in jazz". He eventually became the "preeminent" jazz harmonica player.

<i>Black Market</i> (Weather Report album) 1976 studio album by Weather Report

Black Market is the sixth studio album by American jazz fusion band Weather Report. Released in 1976, it was produced by Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter. It was recorded between December 1975 and January 1976 and released in March 1976 through Columbia Records. Columbia released it again as a digitally remastered CD in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Acuña</span> Peruvian drummer and percussionist

Alejandro Neciosup Acuña, known professionally as Alex Acuña, is a Peruvian–American jazz drummer and percussionist.

<i>Back on the Block</i> 1989 studio album by Quincy Jones

Back on the Block is a 1989 studio album by Quincy Jones. The album features musicians and singers from across three generations, including Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Joe Zawinul, Ice-T, Big Daddy Kane, Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie, George Benson, Luther Vandross, Dionne Warwick, Barry White, Chaka Khan, Take 6, Bobby McFerrin, Al Jarreau, Al B. Sure!, James Ingram, El DeBarge, Ray Charles and a 12-year-old Tevin Campbell.

<i>Mr. Gone</i> (album) 1978 studio album by Weather Report

Mr. Gone is the eighth studio album by jazz fusion band Weather Report released in 1978 by ARC/Columbia Records. The album reached number one on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.

<i>Night Passage</i> (album) 1980 studio album with a live track, by Weather Report

Night Passage is the ninth studio album by Weather Report, released in 1980. The tracks were recorded on July 12 and 13, 1980, at The Complex studios in Los Angeles, except for "Madagascar", recorded live at the Festival Hall, Osaka, Japan on June 29 of the same year.

<i>Weather Report</i> (1982 album) 1982 studio album by Weather Report

Weather Report is the tenth studio album by the American jazz fusion band Weather Report, released in January 1982. The band's first album is also self-titled, causing confusion among consumers and retailers upon its release. It is the final album featuring bass guitarist Jaco Pastorius and drummer Peter Erskine in the rhythm section.

<i>Live and Unreleased</i> (album) 2002 live album by Weather Report

Live and Unreleased is a compilation of live recordings of the jazz fusion band Weather Report, released on Legacy Recordings in 2002. The tracks are taken from live performances that took place from November 27, 1975 to June 3, 1983. It is their third official live recording after the Japan-only Live in Tokyo from 1972 and 8:30 from 1979, although previous albums such as Heavy Weather (1977) and Night Passage (1980) also included occasional live tracks.

<i>John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman</i> 1963 studio album by John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman is a studio album by John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman which was released by Impulse! Records in July or August 1963. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2013.

<i>Forecast: Tomorrow</i> 2006 compilation album by Weather Report

Forecast: Tomorrow is a 3-CD/1-DVD career-spanning compilation of recordings of Weather Report. The 37 tracks are presented chronologically, beginning with three tracks pre–Weather Report, from ensemble duties with Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley (Zawinul), and from a Shorter solo album. In addition to two previously unreleased tracks, the set closes with DJ Logic's remix of "125th Street Congress".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weather Report discography</span>

The discography of Weather Report, an American jazz band with a career lasting sixteen years between 1970 and 1986, consists of fourteen studio albums, three live albums, eleven compilation albums, five singles, one B-side, and six video albums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Thomas Jr.</span> American drummer

Robert Thomas Jr. is an American jazz percussionist and hand drummer. He is known as an innovator in Be-bop and hand drumming, and has been nominated for two Grammy awards. He is also a visual artist, working as a painter.

<i>The Legendary Live Tapes: 1978–1981</i> 2015 live album by Weather Report

The Legendary Live Tapes: 1978–1981 is a four-CD live recording of Weather Report on Columbia, Sony, released on November 20, 2015. Discs one and three are quintet recordings from 1980 to 1981, while discs two and four are quartet recordings from 1978. Most of the music was recorded on analog tape by the band's then drummer Peter Erskine and front of house mixing engineer Brian Risner. In the liner notes, Erskine provides insight into Weather Report's live performances and life on tour via a song by song discussion.

References

  1. Feather, Leonard (18 February 1990). "Keyboardist Joe Zawinul: From Weather Report to Rap". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  2. "Best Jazz Fusion Performance" and "Best Arrangement on an Instrumental" "33rd Annual GRAMMY Awards (1990)" . Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  3. Milkowski, Bill (2005). Jaco: The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius (Anniversary ed.). San Francisco: Backbeat Books. p. 99. ISBN   978-0-87930-859-9.
  4. "Joe Zawinul Biography". Official Joe Zawinul Website. Retrieved 2018-07-27.
  5. Berendt and Huesmann, Joachim-Ernst and Gunther (2009). The Jazz Book: From Ragtime to 21st Century. Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill.
  6. Jaco Pastorius Interview, archived from the original on 2021-12-14, retrieved 2021-03-14
  7. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1474. ISBN   978-0-141-03401-0.
  8. "2010 Grammy Hall Of Fame Selections Announced". GRAMMY.com. 15 May 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2017.