Articles

Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.

RADIO January 24, 2020

Newk, Dave (And Paul), Fats & More

Have you gotten used to writing or typing 2020 yet? I'm getting there just from filling out Gift and Messages paperwork and metadata! But let's get to the music, starting with a few 21st century tunes from Orrin Evans (putting the street beat to Ornette), trumpeter John McNeil and Russian saxophonist Makar Kashitsyn. Then Bobby Broom sets us up for our continuing Sonny Rollins celebration (the 'back half' of Saxophone Colossus). We start the Dave Brubeck centennial featuring ...

ALBUM REVIEW July 9, 2016

The Dave Brubeck Quartet: Time Out

By Sacha O'Grady

Dave Brubeck emerged after the Second World War as a pianist whose eclectic style owed itself to several different schools of piano playing. Throughout the 1950's, Brubeck enjoyed as much commercial success as any jazz musician could have wished for, becoming one of the biggest acts in the business. Famous mostly for his experiments with rhythm, influenced equally as much by Bach as he was by swing, his compositions would betray sophisticated time signatures intertwined with classical references.

JAZZ IN THE AQUARIAN AGE April 17, 2012

Dave Brubeck: The Inspired Moment of Unity

By Bob Kenselaar

[Standing tall with a flowing salt-and-pepper mane, Dave Brubeck had a broad smile and was quick to laugh when I met him in the fall of 1978 at publicist Peter Levinson's New York office for this interview. He was enjoying his tour with the New Brubeck Quartet, the group he formed with his sons. He reminisced about his earliest days in music and his duet recordings with Paul Desmond, and he proudly recalled some compliments he'd gotten over the years ...

REASSESSING December 15, 2011

Dave Brubeck Quartet: Time Out

By Chris May

Dave Brubeck QuartetTime OutColumbia1959 As the authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (Penguin, 1992-2008) observed, pianist Dave Brubeck's Time Out has become so familiar that “no one actually hears what's going on anymore." The album is one of two masterpieces made in 1959 sharing that fate. The other is trumpeter Miles Davis' Kind of Blue (Columbia). But Brubeck's album has suffered the most. Davis' studied cultivation ...

MULTIPLE REVIEWS April 3, 2010

Brubeck: The Quintessence (1948-1959) ; Take Five; QSF Plays Brubeck; 1975: The Duets & Jazz at Oberlin

By Andrew Velez

Dave Brubeck/Paul DesmondThe Quintessence (1948-1959)Fremeaux & Associes.2009 Sachal Studios OrchestraTake FiveSachal Music2009 Quartet San FranciscoQSF Plays BrubeckViolinJazz2009 Dave Brubeck/Paul Desmond1975: The DuetsA&M-Verve2009 Dave Brubeck QuartetJazz at Oberlin Fantasy/OJC-Concord2009 Hail, Brubeck! Most recently David ...

MULTIPLE REVIEWS November 6, 2009

Take Two: Variations on Dave Brubeck

By Dr. Judith Schlesinger

The music of pianist Dave Brubeck has been cherished throughout the world since the mid 1950s. While he's written orchestral, choral and sacred work, his most familiar are jazz tunes like “Strange Meadowlark," “Blue Rondo A La Turk," “Three To Get Ready," “Unsquare Dance" and that mega-hit “Take Five," written by his band mate, alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, and forever linked to Brubeck. This repertoire has been played and recorded a zillion times by admiring jazz musicians, and it's strong ...

ALBUM REVIEW June 2, 2009

Dave Brubeck: Time Out (50th Anniversary Legacy Edition)

By Graham L. Flanagan

The year 1959 could easily go down as the one of most important years in the history of recorded jazz. In addition to Miles Davis' Kind of Blue (Columbia), it saw the release of the Dave Brubeck Quartet's groundbreaking LP Time Out. Columbia Records got the risky inclination to release the album's third track, the Paul Desmond-penned title song, as a single and it went on to become the first jazz single to sell one million copies. ...