Birdland is a jazz club started in New York City on December 15, 1949. The original Birdland, which was located at 1678 Broadway, just north of West 52nd Street in Manhattan, was closed in 1965 due to increased rents, but it re-opened for one night in 1979.
- Venue
- Birdland (New York jazz club)
- Town
- New York City, US
Birdland is a jazz club started in New York City on December 15, 1949. The original Birdland, which was located at 1678 Broadway, just north of West 52nd Street in Manhattan, was closed in 1965 due to increased rents, but it re-opened for one night in 1979. A revival began in 1986 with the opening of the second nightclub by the same name that is now located in Manhattan's Theater District, not far from the original nightclub's location. The current location is in the same building as the previous headquarters of The New York Observer. Irving Levy (1923-1959), Morris Levy, and Oscar Goodstein - along with six other partners - purchased the venue in 1949 from Joseph "Joe the Wop" Catalano. They adopted the name "Birdland" to capitalize on the profile of Charlie "Yardbird" Parker. The club was originally scheduled to open on September 8, 1949, but this was moved back to December 15 following difficulties in getting a liquor license. The opening night was "A Journey Through Jazz", consisting of various styles of the music up to that point, played by Maxie Kaminsky, Hot Lips Page, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Harry Belafonte, Stan Getz, and Lennie Tristano, in that order. Parker played very few jobs at Birdland due to his drug addiction. He didn't cause issues for the management, but as Gene Ramey claimed Goodstein said, "He was continually wanting money." In 1954, Ramey later persuaded Goodstein to let Parker perform at Birdland with his band on a pair of Monday nights. The neon sign at the front of the club read, "Birdland, Jazz Corner of the World". The venue seated 500 people and had bandstand space for a big band-the Count Basie Orchestra was a regular booking. The venue had a long bar, tables, booths, and a fenced-in bullpen, several rows of folding chairs, some directly alongside a corner of the bandstand, accessible with just the $1.50 admission fee to the venue; a drink could be carried there by an adult, but teenagers were admitted there, too. Irving Levy and