Modern Jazz Quartet
Birdland, N.Y.C., NY
Jan. 1955


01 What's New
02 I'll Remember April
03 Django
04 Concorde
05 Yesterdays
06 One Bass Hit
07 Bags' Groove


Tracks 01 - 03 : Jan. 20, 1955
Tracks 04 - 06 : Jan. 23, 1955
Track 07 : Jan. 30, 1955


Milt Jackson - vibes
John Lewis - piano
Percy Heath - bass
Kenny Clarke - drums


FM (very likely) > ? > Italian bootleg in 1975 > unknown transer > one big .wav by unknown
> CD Wave Editor (making tracks) > TLH (.wav to FLAC) > FLAC + this text file > checksum by amellowsoul
No EQing, remixing, etc. was done, like for things to be flat here, and leave that to the few pros. that I really trust.


This came to me, in an online trade, as one .wav file. There was no info. on song titles, or dates. I did some online research, and lucky, found what I was looking for. It was a bootleg, on the Alto label, released in Italy, in 1975. I cut, and labeled the tracks, and pass that on to this info.txt files. This is not their complete Birdland broadcasts, as there is quite a bit more, but all I could find. If you know where they are, feel free to share with me, and the world!

I am pretty certain the bootleg folks added in fake applause. The rest of my Birdland shows, by different artists, show the small club that was; compared to here were here. The crowd sounds appears to from a much bigger venue. Regardless, this is the earliest live recordings of MJQ in my collection. Kenny Clarke was still the drummer, to be very soon replaced by Connie Kay.

Enjoy, as always,
-amellowsoul