Time Out Dave Brubeck Quartet

The Last Set at Newport is a 1971 live album by Dave Brubeck and his quartet recorded at the 1971 Newport Jazz Festival, shortly before a riot ensued. The album peaked at 16 on the Billboard Top Jazz Charts. The album was reviewed by Scott Yanow at Allmusic who wrote that "The Dave Brubeck-Gerry Mulligan quartet is heard in a very inspired performance at the Newport Jazz Festival, just a short time before a riot by the audience closed the festival. These versions of "Take Five" and "Open the Gates" are memorable, but it is the extended "Blues for Newport" that is truly classic." Yanow wrote that the musicians "…constantly challenge each other during this exciting performance, making this set well-worth searching for."

Dave Brubeck's defining masterpiece, Time Out is one of the most rhythmically innovative albums in jazz history, the first to consciously explore time signatures outside of the standard 4/4 beat or 3/4 waltz time. It was a risky move – Brubeck's record company wasn't keen on releasing such an arty project, and many critics initially roasted him for tampering with jazz's rhythmic foundation…

Thirteen years into their tenure, the Dave Brubeck Quartet was still able to mine the creative vein for new means of expression. Despite the hits and popularity on college campuses, or perhaps because of it, Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Eugene Wright, and Joe Morello composed a restless band with a distinctive sound. These eight tracks, all based on a tour of Japan the year before, were, in a sense, Brubeck fulfilling a dictum from his teacher, the French composer Darius Milhaud, who exhorted him to "travel the world and keep your ears open." The sketches Brubeck and Desmond created all invoke the East, particularly the folk melodies of Japan directly, while still managing to use the Debussian impressionistic approach to jazz that kept them riding the charts and creating a body of music that, while playing into the exotica craze of the moment, was still jazz composed and played with integrity…

Ask Dave Brubeck who his favourite composer is and the answer always comes back: "Bach". This 2004 concert makes explicit the spiritual kinship between Papas Bach and Brubeck. The set opens with a fine performance of Bach's Concerto for Two Pianos, BWV1060, with Anthony and Joseph Paratore responding positively to Russell Gloyd's driving tempi.
The Paratore brothers have recorded the two-piano version of Brubeck's ballet score Points on jazz before, but this version with orchestral accompaniment is a reminder of how ingenious Brubeck's material is. A Prelude rich in references to Bach and Chopin becomes the basis for a dazzling set of variations - a swinging blues one moment, a highly creative fugue next - every note distilled through Brubeck's fertile imagination…

Although recorded in sessions in 1962 and 1965, this set of Richard Rodgers tunes by the Dave Brubeck Quartet has a strong unity about it due to the consistent performances of the veteran group. With altoist Paul Desmond and the pianist-leader contributing some fine solos (and bassist Eugene Wright and drummer Joe Morello excellent in support), The Rodgers songs are treated with respect and swing. This comparatively gentle version of "My Favorite Things" would never be mistaken for John Coltrane's.

This LP introduced Paul Desmond's beautiful ballad "Audrey" and found the early Dave Brubeck quartet (with pianist Brubeck, altoist Desmond, bassist Bob Bates, and drummer Joe Dodge) making a rare studio recording; up to this point all of their most popular records were club performances. With fresh versions of such songs as "Jeepers Creepers," "Pennies from Heaven," and "A Fine Romance," this music is certainly worth acquiring.

Recorded during three different stays at New York's Basin Street, Jazz: Red, Hot and Cool is making its first appearance in the U.S. on CD. It documents - with the addition of two additional performances that were previously unissued - the original Brubeck quartet in its final years. In 1956 Joe Morello would replace Joe Dodge, and in 1958 Eugene Wright would take over the bass chair from Bob Bates. What strikes the listener about this band, is a having been seasoned for five years when the first of these performances were recorded, the Brubeck quartet was far more immersed in the blues than anyone - at least the critics of the time - had given them credit for…

This dynamic quartet, strongly influential during the cool jazz period, performed as a group from 1951 to 1967. Since the 1930s, leader Dave Brubeck received high praise and critical acclaim for his role as bandleader and for his stirring arrangements. At the piano, Brubeck plays along with the accompaniment of Paul Desmond, another timeless jazz legend in his own right. Joe Morello drives the rhythm of the group on drums and percussion with the help of Gene Wright, who shares his talent and pulsating beats on standup bass. Desmond is featured on this collection of standards, jamming along on the alto sax to tunes such as "Swanee River," "That Lonesome Road," and "Basin Street Blues." Brubeck shimmers with radiance and phenomenal craftiness in his piano improvisation at the end of "Georgia on My Mind." Morello gives it his creative all with a rich flair for rhythm during his strong solo performance on the tune "Short'nin' Bread"…