awards, as well as ranking high on various Billboard charts. It soon became known as ajazz standard, and entered the set lists of other artists including Buddy Rich, Maynard Ferguson’s big band, The Manhattan Transfer, Quincy Jones, and The String Cheese Incident.
"Birdland" essentially marked the peak of Weather Report's career with the release of Heavy Weather. With the addition of Jaco Pastorius, the band was able to push its music to the “height of its popularity”, and with that came "Birdland." Weather Report's most commercially
successful composition, "Birdland" served as a tribute to the New York jazz club on 52nd street that housed a countless number of famous jazz musicians. However, not only was the song named in honor of the legendaryjazz club, but also after the man whom the club was named after, Charlie Parker, the ‘Bird’ himself. It was this club, that he frequented almost daily, that inspired Zawinul to write the song. Looking back, Zawinul claimed, “The old Birdland was the most important place in my life.” And according to Pastorius in a 1978 interview, the studio version featured on Heavy Weather was recorded in just one take
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