Saturday video break: Birdland

Time for some jazz, which in the 70’s was often married with funk. Here’s the standard of that type and that era, “Birdland”, originally by The Weather Report:

Was there a high school jazz band in the 80s that didn’t play this song? Mine sure did. Hand me my sax right now, put me down in the middle of a band playing this, and I could probably jump right in, even if I had to play it by ear.

There are to me two iconic versions of this song. The first is Maynard Ferguson’s rendition:

I’ve highlighted this before, and it’s worth highlighting again because there’s nothing un-awesome about that video. Also from last time, the vocal Manhattan Transfer version:

And finally, for something a little different, here’s the String Cheese Incident:

A little slower than the other versions, but it works. It’s such a simple melody, but there’s so much you can do with it. That as I’ve said before is the mark of a great song.

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