Jazz Corner of the World

(It had to be sweetness)

(... 'Cause I'd been in New York all the time, and he brought Charlie Parker in this hotel room, in the Booker Washington Hotel)

(There was nothing to do but play, you know, and we had a lot of fun trying to play, you know)

(... That man, Charlie Parker, was mine)

(That was the first time I ever had the pleasure to meet Dizzy Gillespie)

(I can remember Miles)

(Miles was in my original band)

(And Charlie Parker created the sound, and the moment I heard him I said, 'that's how music should sound')

A tribute to the Birdman, the father of Birdland

A masterpiece that release the horns, words and

The musical greats, salute the late

Mentor, inventor of a sound of days back

From bebop to pop and pop to hip hop

Infuse the times of jazzing rhymes and got

Kool Moe Dee and Big Daddy Kane

To bring on the legends; Kane, hit the names

I kick a rap to what you can relax to

A jazz soloist, play away with the sax to

Get the job done, next one up to do his duty

Ladies and gentlemen, mister James Moody

No one goes the mile like Miles Davis

Watch how he plays this trumpet and pump it

Just like a mechanic handles a tool

Here's the rebirth of the cool

What kind of noise can a string bring

Making you swing and sing things of a musical fling

Well listen to this star, next up is our...

Oh, George Benson bringing the guitar

A voice of choice used just like an instrument

So magnificent, I'm proud to present

Divine, Sassy One, A.K.A. Sarah Vaughan

Honey you're on

I'm introducin' a bop revolution

In jazz that has pizazz, he is one player usin' it

As who is, his first name's Dizzy

Last name Gillespie, now watch him get busy

Allow me to tell a story about Ella

Fitzgerald, who's sound can never be sterile

A woman with flexibility of range

Making octaves change, go ahead and do your thing

This is a shoutout to one more man

Joe Zawinul, the writer of Birdland

In the fifties, this was the place to be

From the bands down to the maitre'd

Now, who could forget the MC on the set

The emollient voice of Pee Wee Marquette

(Ladies and gentlemen, as you know we have something special down here at Birdland this evening)

A sound so profound it's come back around

52nd Street is now world-renowned

With horn licks with kick, and swift riffs to stick

Today bebop makes the hip hop pick

These musical genius's souls are so clever

They changed the face of music forever

And if you can't understand

Here's a past and present Birdland