Vinyl Record

Art Blakey Quintet - A Night At Birdland

Art Blakey Quintet - A Night At Birdland on 2LP vinyl. A 1954 Jazz record available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel, Ireland.

2LP · Jazz · 1954

Available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel.

Buyer notes: 1954 2LP, currently available from the Kilmorna Collection Jazz shelf. Pay for pickup in Listowel or ship within Ireland for EUR 5.50.

A Night At Birdland is one of the great live birth certificates for hard bop. Recorded at Birdland in New York on February 21, 1954, the music features Art Blakey with Clifford Brown, Lou Donaldson, Horace Silver and Curley Russell, a quintet so strong that the personnel alone explains the record's reputation. The original Blue Note material appeared first across 10-inch volumes and later in related 12-inch forms, but the essential drama is the same: a club date where announcement, applause and improvisational heat remain part of the music. Brown's trumpet is incandescent, Donaldson's alto cuts with blues intelligence, Silver's piano points toward the Jazz Messengers language, and Blakey drives everything with explosive authority. The album matters because it lets listeners hear modern jazz becoming social, physical and public, not just technically advanced.

A Night At Birdland matters because it captures the Blakey-Brown-Silver axis at a crucial moment in 1954, before hard bop had fully settled into a name. Its club atmosphere and top-tier personnel make it a foundational live jazz document.

For collectors, this title is essential Blakey and essential Clifford Brown. The appeal is not only the repertoire but the documented night: Birdland, Blue Note, a blazing quintet and the sound of hard bop being sharpened in front of an audience.

Live hard bop with fiery trumpet, bluesy alto saxophone, Horace Silver piano, walking bass, Blakey drum thunder, club announcements and urgent audience energy.

Recommended for: Collectors of foundational live Blue Note-era jazz; Fans of Clifford Brown, Horace Silver and Art Blakey; Listeners exploring the transition from bebop to hard bop.

When was A Night At Birdland recorded? It was recorded live at Birdland in New York on February 21, 1954. Who plays on A Night At Birdland? The quintet features Art Blakey, Clifford Brown, Lou Donaldson, Horace Silver and Curley Russell. Why is A Night At Birdland so highly regarded? It captures a top modern-jazz group in a club setting just as hard bop was taking shape.