A Night at Birdland Vol. 1

A Night at Birdland Vol. 1
Live album by Art Blakey
Released 1954
Recorded February 21, 1954
Birdland, New York City
Genre Jazz, Hard bop
Length 37:37
Label Blue Note
BLP 5037, BLP 1521
Producer Alfred Lion
Professional reviews

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Art Blakey chronology
Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers
(1953)		 A Night at Birdland Vol. 1
(1954)		 A Night at Birdland Vol. 2
(1954)
12" LP reissue cover

A Night at Birdland Vol. 1 is a 1954 release by jazz artist Art Blakey. It was first released by Blue Note Records as a 10" LP (BLP 5037) and then as a 12" LP (BLP 1521) containing material from the third 10" album. It has seen subsequent reissues on CD since 1987 from that same label.

All of the music surfaced as part of a Clifford Brown box set for Mosaic Records (MR5-104) and a complete Clifford Brown set put out by Capitol has also appeared. Two previously issued additional tracks not on the original albums (an alternate take of Wee-Dot and an improvisational piece titled Blues) are included.

The recording was produced by Alfred Lion and engineered by Rudy Van Gelder for Blue Note. The reissues were produced by Michael Cuscuna. The spoken announcement by Pee Wee Marquette is sampled in the US3 song "Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)"

Contents

Track listing

  1. "Announcement by Pee Wee Marquette" – 0:58
  2. "Split Kick" (Silver) – 8:44
  3. "Once in a While" (Edwards, Green) – 5:18
  4. "Quicksilver" (Silver) – 6:58
  5. "A Night in Tunisia" (Gillespie, Paparelli) – 9:20
  6. "Mayreh" (Silver) – 6:19

Bonus tracks on 2001 CD reissue:

  1. "Wee-Dot (alternate take)" (Johnson, Parker) – 6:53
  2. "Blues (Improvisation)" (Traditional)  – 8:37

Personnel

Art Blakey Quintet:

Production:

Reception

The two albums that were released from the Birdland sessions are considered by The Penguin Guide to Jazz to be part of their "core collection." Allaboutjazz.com reviewer said it simply with "Blakey and company had clicked that night at Birdland."[1] Allmusic mentions that, on this first album, "all of the participants [are] in inspired form. Classic bop."[2]

References

  1. ^ Michael Fortuna. "A Night At Birdland, Vols. 1 and 2". http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=8511. Retrieved 2006-12-31. 
  2. ^ Scott Yanow. "A Night at Birdland, Vol. 1". http://www.allmusic.com/album/r207256. Retrieved 2006-12-31.