Detail:
It was Charlie Parker, familiarly known to his fans and fellow musicians as "Bird," who was the dynamic creative personality and genius of the alto saxophone who served as the inspiration for Birdland. When the original Birdland opened fifty-eight years ago in December, 1949, Charlie Parker was the headliner and the club was located on Broadway, a few blocks west of 52nd Street, which was a hotbed of jazz in the 1930s and 40s.
Birdland's booking history reads like a who's who of jazz: Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bud Powell, Stan Getz, Lester Young, Erroll Garner, and many, many others.
Now the Birdland banner has been reborn in midtown. After a decade of neighborhood success on the Upper West Side, the club moved back to Midtown. The new Birdland offers top-flight jazz in a world class setting, good sight lines and acoustics, elbow room, and a menu ripe with award winning Southern Cuisine.
Since the reemergence of the club, midtown Manhattan has been treated to some of the best jazz on the planet, including memorable sets by such musicians as Oscar Peterson, Pat Metheny, Diana Krall, Roy Haynes, Michel Legrand, Pat Martino, Tony Williams, Hank Jones, Michel Petrucciani, John Scofield, Phoebe Snow, Dave Holland, and Tito Puente, as well as the big bands of Chico O'Farrill, Toshiko Akiyoshi, and Maria Schneider.
