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Welcome to Birdland, the jazz corner of the world / Forbes

"Welcome to Birdland, the jazz corner of the world," said Kurt Elling as he swung into Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall." The performance was taking place in the upstairs Birdland Theatre where every wall was covered with framed photographs of jazz musicians and every seat in the house was taken - no wonder; this Grammy-Award winning singer/songwriter, dressed sharply in a brown suit, has been called the standout male jazz vocalist of our time. He turned every song, including "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" into a jazzy ballad as he sang in his rich baritone voice and scatted across four octaves. At the end of the set, the audience, a combination of New Yorkers (many of them Birdland regulars) and tourists stood screaming for more.

Birdland is an essential part of New York jazz history. In December 1949, the club opened on Broadway, a block west of 52nd Street, the hotbed of jazz in the 1930s and 40s. Charlie Parker, the inspiration for Birdland was an alto saxophone genius known to his fans as "Bird." Parker brought in many emerging artists including Miles Davis and Roy Haynes and opened the stage to all the young, new upcoming artists. For the next fifteen years, Birdland was the mecca of jazz, offering double and triple bills, sometimes lasting until dawn.

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