“Birdland” became Weather Report’s biggest hit and probably the biggest jazz fusion hit. Released in 1978, it came out at a time when FM radio stations would still play an eclectic mix so you could hear new wave, punk, americana, jazz fusion, country all on the same station. Too often now, we retreat to our silos or allow algorithms to pick songs that sound like what we already heard. Instead of exploring the world, we curl up with comfort songs that lull us to sleep.
Okay, enough of an old man rant. Here’s a song that can lift our spirit in tribute to the jazz club of the same name.