Birdland (instrumental composition)

This article is about the Joe Zawinul instrumental. For the Patti Smith song, see Horses (album).
"Birdland"
Single by Weather Report
from the album Heavy Weather
Released 1977
Format 7" and 12" single
Genre Jazz, fusion
Length 05:58
Label Columbia, CBS, ARC
Writer(s) Joe Zawinul

"Birdland" is a jazz-fusion instrumental composition written by keyboardist Joe Zawinul of Weather Report. The piece made its debut on Weather Report’s 1977 studio album, Heavy Weather. With Birdland at the helm of the album, the song received awards, as well as ranking high on Billboard charts. It became a jazz standard, and entered the set lists of other artists including Buddy Rich, Maynard Ferguson’s big band, The Manhattan Transfer (whose version added lyrics by Jon Hendricks), Quincy Jones, Niacin and The String Cheese Incident.

History

"Birdland" marked the peak of Weather Report's commercial career with the release of Heavy Weather. With the addition of Jaco Pastorius, the band was able to push its music to the “height of its popularity”, and with that came "Birdland." Weather Report's most commercially successful composition, "Birdland" served as a tribute to the New York jazz club on 52nd street that housed many famous jazz musicians. The song was also named in honor of the man after whom the club was named, Charlie Parker, the ‘Bird’ himself. It was this club, that he frequented almost daily, that inspired Zawinul to write the song. Looking back, Zawinul claimed, “The old Birdland was the most important place in my life.”[1]

Popularity

Following the release of Heavy Weather, the Weather Report gained a number of awards and honors in recognition of their musical achievements related to Birdland. These include[2]

Appears on

See also

References

  1. Berendt and Huesmann, Joachim-Ernst and Gunther (2009). The Jazz Book: From Ragtime to 21st Century. Chicago, IL: Lawence Hill.
  2. Ginell, Richard. "Heavy Weather". Album Review. AllMusic.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, October 15, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.