Time Out - The Dave Brubeck Quartet

When I started this vinyl journey, jazz was a genre of music I didn’t know anything about. I could maybe guess if a piece of music was jazz but the nuances between bop, post bop, hard bop, big band, swing, smooth, cool, etc were lost on me. Fortunately, I’ve met some incredible vinyl record store owners. In fact, every store I have visited has been staffed with incredibly knowledgeable individuals who have always been very generous in sharing what they know.

And that is how I tripped across this album, a record recommendation from a record store owner. I brought it home, aware that it was ‘jazz’ before I put it on but WOW! What I didn’t know was the impact Dave Brubeck had on jazz…and music…not how much I would love this album, right from the start! It’s funky, cool, swingy (think 1960’s).

One of my favourites is Take Five. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of this song. With a little bit of digging, I looked for some videos of The Dave Brubeck Quartet performing this song and I’m mesmerized by what I found! The musicianship between the incomparable Dave Brubeck, piano, Paul Desmond is sublime on the saxophone, Tom Morello is astonishing on the drums and the never-ending constant support of Eugene Wright is mind-blowing! To see this first-hand - check out this video. Remember, this is 1960! Watch the solos…and the smooth and easy transitions between these artists…like what they are doing is no big deal!! HA!!! Fifty years later, these artists are still the epitome of cool!