"Birdland" | |
---|---|
Single by Weather Report | |
from the album Heavy Weather | |
Released | April 19, 1977 |
Genre | Jazz fusion |
Length | 5:58 |
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.
"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]
The Weather Report recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2010. [8]
John Francis "Jaco" Pastorius III was an American jazz bassist, composer, and producer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential bassists of all time, Pastorius recorded albums as a solo artist, band leader, and as 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.
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.
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