A Night at Birdland, Vol. 1

A Night at Birdland, Vol. 2 The second volume of recordings from this seminal hard-bop date (February 21, 1954) picks up where Volume 1 leaves off, and is no less thrilling. Trumpeter Clifford Brown positively smokes through "Wee-Dot" and a supercharged reworking of the standard "The Way You Look Tonight." ...	Study in Brown When these nine sides were cut in February 1955, trumpeter Clifford Brown was not even 25 years old, but he'd already emerged as jazz's greatest trumpeter this side of Miles Davis. Whereas Davis made his mark through conception, composition, and cool tones, Brown was a blowing, b...	Somethin' Else When alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley culled together this quartet, he grabbed three champions from seemingly disparate schools to complement his flinty solos: Miles Davis, the king of cool; Art Blakey, the thundering force of hard bop; Hank Jones, a veteran of swing; and Sam...	A Night in Tunisia Throughout his long career, Art Blakey built a tremendous reputation for aggressive bands that featured the most gifted young musicians. Few of his later bands, however, could stand comparison with this 1960 edition of the hard-bop juggernaut. Its members combined strong writing ...	Clifford Brown & Max Roach Many a young musician has been sabotaged by his own considerable abilities. So caught up are they in technical execution that they give elements such as emotion and taste short shrift. Trumpeter Clifford Brown was a musical dynamo, a man who was capable of playing many instrument...
The Sidewinder The Philadelphia-born trumpeter and superb bop stylist Lee Morgan apprenticed with Dizzy Gillespie and Art Blakey before emerging as a leader in his own right in the early '60s for Blue Note Records. Although Morgan owed a stylistic debt to both Gillespie and Clifford Brown, he q...	Song for My Father Since its title track provided the inspiration for Steely Dan's "Rikki, Don't Lose That Number," Song for My Father has become known as the jazz recording that launched a thousand bad rock records. Yet whatever pretensions Steely Dan and their legion of desperately hip imitators ...	Moanin' This is truly one of the great classics of hard bop, with drummer Art Blakey leading arguably his greatest Jazz Messengers lineup through a driving program that never lets up. Tenor saxophonist Benny Golson (whose composition "Along Came Betty" is heard here, subsequently becomin...	Free for All The swan song for the band with Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, Curtis Fuller and Cedar Walton. The title tune has to be heard to be believed. From a whisper to a scream, each soloist seems to be bursting at the seams with ideas and emotion. Their version of Clare Rischer's "Pens...	Speak No Evil Wayne Shorter's compositions helped define a new jazz style in the mid-'60s, merging some of the concentrated muscular force of hard bop with surprising intervals and often spacious melodies suspended over the beat. The result was a new kind of "cool," a mixture of restraint and ...

Some advice if you like this CD...
First of all, enough other reviewers have covered the history and make-up of this CD, so I won't do that. All I want to say is, this is a delightful and historic piece of live jazz music that simply cannot be surpassed. The players assembled make this recording one for the ages. And if you think you might enjoy this (jazz fans definitely will, I reckon), my suggestion would be to go ahead and get Clifford Brown's The Complete Blue Note & Pacific Jazz Recordings, because that includes both this CD and the volume 2 companion, plus two more CD's of Brown's work. Wonderful, wonderful jazz you'll want to share with everyone you know.

On this night, hard bop was born...
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.

What can I say about this album...
that hasn't been said already? ...I can't think of anything. Simply awesome, would suggest it to anybody that enjoys Clifford Brown or Horace Silver or Art Blakey (in other words, any listener of jazz)

Hard Bop 101
This recording is worth five stars alone just to hear Mr. Clifford Brown's performance. No amount of hyperbole can do this man justice. He is simply the best. It is almost bittersweet hearing Brownie sound this great knowing that he had so many of these unbelievable performances still left in him before his untimely and tragic death. This is definitely one of my top five favorites of any album he ever did. This is also one of my top ten favorites of any live album period! It is an amazing performance by the whole group of all-stars - Lou Donaldson, Art Blakey, Horace Silver and Curly Russell. If you are a fan of Clifford Brown then this is essential! If I was teaching a jazz class this would be the first album I would play to the class as an example of hard bop at it's absolute finest.

So much began here
If you love hardbop and/or Horace Silver and/or Art Blakey, you need this album. It is just a joy to hear the band setting the course that so many others would follow over the years.