Blue Bird Inn

An African American owned venue, by the end of the 1940s it was the most important live outlet for bop in the city.

[2] The venue had featured live music since the 1930s, but in 1948 Phil Hill was hired to assemble a house band that could play bebop.

[4] In the early 1950s, the Billy Mitchell Quintet, featuring Elvin Jones, replaced Hill's trio as the house band.

[5] Other performers included Pepper Adams, Sonny Stitt, Ahmad Jamal, Donald Byrd,[6] Frank Gant,[6] and Curtis Fuller.

[6] In 2018, Detroit Sound Conservancy, local music preservation and advocacy nonprofit, purchased the building.