A Night at Birdland Volume 1 (album)

A Night at Birdland Vol. 1 is a 1954 release by jazz artist Art Blakey. It was first released by Blue Note Records as a 10" LP (BLP 5037) and then as a 12" LP (BLP 1521) containing material from the third 10" album. It has seen subsequent reissues on CD since 1987 from that same label.

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. Two previously issued additional tracks not on the original albums (an alternate take of Wee-Dot and an improvisational piece titled Blues) are included.

The recording was produced by Alfred Lion and engineered by Rudy Van Gelder for Blue Note. The reissues were produced by Michael Cuscuna. The spoken announcement by Pee Wee Marquette is sampled in the US3 song "Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)"

Track listing
Bonus tracks on 2001 CD reissue originally on A Night at Birdland Vol. 3:
 * 1) "Announcement by Pee Wee Marquette" – 0:58
 * 2) "Split Kick" (Silver) – 8:44
 * 3) "Once in a While" (Edwards, Green) – 5:18
 * 4) "Quicksilver" (Silver) – 6:58
 * 5) "A Night in Tunisia" (Gillespie, Paparelli) – 9:20
 * 6) "Mayreh" (Silver) – 6:19
 * 1) "Wee-Dot (alternate take)" (Johnson, Parker) – 6:53
 * 2) "Blues (Improvisation)" (Traditional) – 8:37

Personnel
Art Blakey Quintet:
 * Art Blakey – drums
 * Clifford Brown – trumpet
 * Lou Donaldson – alto saxophone
 * Curley Russell – bass
 * Horace Silver – piano

Production:
 * Bob Bluementhal, Leonard Feather — liner notes
 * Michael Cuscuna — reissue producer
 * John Hermansader or Reid Miles — cover design
 * Alfred Lion — producer
 * Ron McMaster — digital transfers (1987)
 * Rudy Van Gelder — engineer, mastering (1954 and 2001)
 * Francis Wolff — photography

Reception
The two albums that were released from the Birdland sessions are considered by The Penguin Guide to Jazz to be part of their "core collection." A reviewer for allaboutjazz.com said simply that "Blakey and company had clicked that night at Birdland." Allmusic mentions that, on this first album, "all of the participants [are] in inspired form. Classic bop."