A Night at Birdland, Vol. 1
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Brand: BLAKEY,ARTEdition: Music CD
Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2001-08-07
Music Label: Blue Note Records
Soundtracks:
- Announcement By Pee Wee Marquette
- Split Kick
- Once In A While
- Quicksilver
- A Night In Tunisia
- Mayreh
- Wee-Dot (Alternate Take)
- Blues (Improvisation)
Free Music Notes for A Night at Birdland, Vol. 1
Free Music Review: On this night, hard bop was born...
Hit: 5 Stars
People tend to focus so much on Clifford Brown's dynamic partnership with Max Roach that they forget that it all started in the very first edition of ART BLAKEY'S JAZZ MESSENGERS. I, admittedly, am one of these people, and didn't discover this recording until many years after indulging in those aforementioned gold Mercury recordings with Roach. What was I THINKING??
"A Night at Birdland" captures some of the most crackling, sharp, burning, emotional, and hard-driving jazz ever recorded. Many consider this to be the first "hard bop" recording ever released - "hard bop" being a buzzword for jazz that blends gospel, R&B, blues, and an extra emphasis on blowing. Considering that Art Blakey's groups are seen as the archetypal hard bop groups, it's only fitting that jazz's best trumpet player kick-starts his own career, a genre, Art Blakey's messengers, and Horace Silver's future groups all in one night.
Listen to Brownie, Brownie, Brownie. Oh my God. My trumpet professor considers Clifford's opening solo on "Split Kick" to be one of top 5 jazz solos ever. This Horace Silver tune, written over the changes to "There Will Never Be Another You," gives Clifford a vehicle to just UNLEASH HIMSELF! Not resting on his laurels, he gets right up to play a ballad and will have you smiling ear to ear with his tender and delicate interpretation of "Once in a While." All night Clifford had his A game flowing thru the trumpet.
Horace Silver is one of jazz's (and definitely hard bop's) best composers, and this night was his big break for his compositions. The aforementioned Split Kick gets its first famous reading, as well as his blistering "Quicksilver," written over the changes to "Lover Come Back to Me," and "Mayreh," written over the changes to "All God's Chillun Got Rhythm." They're very catchy and challenging.
This IS the first, and could be considered definitive, hard bop recording. The blues are there - there's a 8:38 improvisation over slow Bb blues. Gospel? There are touches of it in the blues tune. R&B? Listen to the soulful playing of alto wizard Lou Donaldson. The hard blowing? Every second of every song...
Unfortunately, hard bop was just getting started, so the bebop standard of "head solo solo solo solo head" was still as popular as it was. This can get a little monotonous for those who fell in love with hard bop's penchant for slick arrangements, backgrounds, and harmonies.
Nat Hentoff complained of Clifford's playing on this record of "having too many notes." While this is a surprisingly inaccurate claim from the normally reliable Hentoff, he does have a point: the musicians are very excited and driving, and it can get heady if you aren't used to listening to live hard bop.
The songs all have the same introduction and it gets kind of boring/obnoxious - 8 or 16 bar thunderous drum intros by Art Blakey. While he's a hell of a drummer, this is probably the reason he was almost deaf by his death at age 71.
These musicians made history on this night. They didn't know they did - but they sure as nails did. When you listen to this music, think about not only how historically significant it is, but how natural it was for these musicians to just blow and do their thing.
What's the opposite of a point of no return? A launchpad? This recording was the launchpad of 4 of the 5 musicians involved. Clifford moved out west to start his dynamic partnership with Max Roach, Horace Silver and Art Blakey would team up to start the JAZZ MESSENGERS, and Lou Donaldson would hang around Blue Note Records and continue to recruit and blow his butt off. Curly Russell....well, he already had his fun blazing bebop with Bird in the 40's.
Horace Silver has a very interesting playing style on this record. His left hand comping involves a lot of low register notes and busy, driving figures. Silver fans will want to hear how his playing evolved from this to a more funky style in later years.
Trumpet players - have fun with that solo on Split Kick. I know I did.
My favorite track, if you haven't figured it out by this point, it's Split Kick. This song brings out the most energy out of the band and the most inspired musical creativity.
Blakey said that this was the 1st time he enjoyed a recording session - yet, you'll enjoy it by a much larger magnitude than he did. Just have a pillow around - you'll keep falling off of your chair in amazement.
A Night at Birdland, Vol. 1 Poster
No description available.Genre: Jazz Music
Rating:
Release Date: 0000-00-00
Media Type: Compact Disk
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