| "Birdland" was a jazz-fusion instrumental composition written by keyboardist Joe Zawinul of the group Weather Report. It was 1977 when Zawinul composed "Birdland", right around the dying age of pure jazz, and the new wave of fusion. "Birdland" was Zawinul's pride and joy, and his tribute to jazz, but more importantly, his everlasting contribution to music itself. Considered his most famous composition, "Birdland" served as a tribute to the New York City jazz club on 52nd Street that housed a countless amount of famous jazz musicians before him. However, not only was the song named in honor of the legendary jazz club, but also after the man whom the club was named after, Charlie Parker, the 'Bird' himself. It was this club, that he frequented almost daily, that inspired Zawinul to write the song. Soon after the fusion piece reached the top of the charts, it became known as a jazz standard, and soon entered the set lists of many other artists including Buddy Rich, Maynard Ferguson, The Manhattan Transfer, and The String Cheese Incident. One of the best-known, and most star-studded, recordings of "Birdland" appeared on "Back On The Block", a 1989 studio album produced by Quincy Jones. The song, along with the intro track "Jazz Corner Of The World", features many famous and important musicians and singers, including Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Kool Moe Dee, Big Daddy Kane, Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie, George Benson, and James Moody, as well as Joe Zawinul himself. "Back ... |
