A Night at Birdland, Vols. 1 & 2 are a pair of separate but related live albums by the Art Blakey Quintet. They were recorded at the Birdland jazz club on February 21, 1954 and released on Blue Note in 1956. The performance was originally spread out over three 10" LPs as A Night at Birdland Vols. 1–3 (1954).[2]
Release history
Volumes 1 and 2 were issued on CD in 1987 with new artwork based on the original ten-inches and two additional tracks each: an alternate take of "Wee-Dot" and an improvisational piece titled "Blues" on Volume 1, and "The Way You Look Tonight" and "Lou's Blues" on Volume 2—issued as side's one and two of the 12" A Night at Birdland, Vol. 3 released by Toshiba three years previously in 1984—the first three of which were previously released in 1975 on Live Messengers (BN-LA473-J2), a 2 LP compilation.
The "RVG Editions" were released on CD in 2001, remastered by Rudy Van Gelder with the tracks in a different order and restoring the original album covers from Volumes 1 & 2 of the 10"s.[3][2]
The concert was also included in The Complete Blue Note and Pacific Jazz Recordings of Clifford Brown box set.
A reviewer for All About Jazz said simply that "Blakey and company had clicked that night at Birdland."[8]
AllMusic reviewer Scott Yanow stated that the first album "launches an initial breakthrough for Blakey and modern jazz in general, and defines the way jazz music could be heard for decades thereafter."[9] Regarding the second album, Yanow wrote: "there are extraordinary high points, along with low points that either result from tiredness or a lack or preparation."[10]
Bob Blumenthal, renowned hard-bop writer, refers to this as a historical jazz milestone.[11]
