Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Dave Brubeck: Indian Summer
Dave Brubeck: Indian Summer
ByIndian Summer follows 2000's One Alone and 1994's Just You, Just Me in Brubeck's series of solo recordings for Telarc. There was a time when the word "rare would have been used for a solo Brubeck album. Beginning with his solo piano debut, Brubeck Plays Brubeck (Columbia, 1956), released in the middle of his development, Brubeck achieved a Grateful Dead-like cult status between Jazz at Oberlin (Fantasy, 1953) and Time Out (Columbia, 1959).
Indian Summer is no exception. This is a quietly dignified recording where Brubeck plays plaintively, at fairly slow tempi, and concentrates on ballads and light show tunes. Brubeck plays most everything piano, a sotto voce recital of old and not so old songs played in a traditional style. He proves that his stride bona fides on a leisurely paced "Sweet Lorraine and a surprisingly blues-laden "Georgia On My Mind. The original "Autumn In Our Town is a moody minor key tone piece that serves as the center to a collection that could be defined as Brubeck's Kinderszenen.
If one crosses Vladimir Horowitz's performance of Schumann's "Träumerei from Horowitz in Moscow (Deutsche Grammophon, 1986) and the corpus of Thelonious Monk on Monk Alone: The Complete Solo Studio Recordings of Thelonious Monk 1962-1968 (Sony, 1998), then the listener might begin to grasp the grace of these Brubeck timelessly aphorous musings. Dave Brubeck will not be here forever, so every new note he plays is important and for fans, Indian Summer should not be missed.
Track Listing
You'll Never Know; I'm Alone; Autumn In Our Town; So Lonely; I'm Afraid the Masquerade Is Over; I Don't Stand a Ghost Of a Chance With You; Pacific Hail; September Song; Summer Song; Thank You; Georgia On My Mind; Spring Is Here; Sweet Lorraine; Memories Of You; This Love Of Mine; Indian Summer.
Personnel
Dave Brubeck
pianoDave Brubeck: piano.
Album information
Title: Indian Summer | Year Released: 2007 | Record Label: Telarc Records