A Night at Birdland Vol. 2 is a 1954 release by jazzdrummerArt Blakey, and a quintet which featured Clifford Brown, Lou Donaldson, Horace Silver and Curley Russell. It was first released by Blue Note Records as a 10" LP (BLP 5038). Two years later, the three 10" LPs in the set were reissued as 2 12" LPs; the 12" Vol. 2 is BLP 1521. Two of the three tracks ("Mayreh" and "A Night in Tunisia") of the original 10" Vol. 2 were included in the 12" Vol. 1. The 12" Vol. 2 incorporates all three tracks from the 10" A Night at Birdland Vol. 3 plus a previously unreleased alternate take of "Quicksilver."
A Night at Birdland Vol. 2 was reissued for the first time on CD in 1987 with two additional tracks ("The Way You Look Tonight" and "Lou's Blues"). "The Way You Look Tonight" had been previously released on a 2 LP Compilation in 1975 called Live Messengers (BN-LA473-J2). The CD was reissued again in 2001 as an "RVG Edition" remastered by Rudy Van Gelder with the tracks in a different order. The 1987 CD used the second 12" LP cover, the 2001 CD revived the original 10" LP cover.[2]
All of the music surfaced as part of a Clifford Brown box set for Mosaic Records (MR5-104) and a complete Clifford Brown set put out by Capitol has also appeared.
The two albums that were released from the Birdland are considered by The Penguin Guide to Jazz to be part of their "core collection". Allaboutjazz.com reviewer said it simply with "Blakey and company had clicked that night at Birdland."[6]Allmusic mentions that, on this second album, "all of the musicians are inspired, none more than Blakey."[7]
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