Hometown blues (Dave Brubeck) (LP 2461 - 2463)

The Dave Brubeck Quartet  Back Home (Vinyl, Interfusion Records, 1979) ****  

Andy Pratt  Resolution (Vinyl, Nemperor Records, 1976) ****  

Stairsteps  2nd Resurrection (Vinyl, Dark Horse Records, 1976, 2023 reissue) ***

Genre: Jazz, Nemperor Records, Dark Horse Records, pop, soul.

Places I remember: The Little Red Bookshop

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Pasado (Stairsteps)

Gear costume: Tell Me Why (Stairsteps)

Active compensatory factors: Some purchases from a recent visit to The Little Red Bookshop and an on-line purchase from Real Groovy to run through here.

The Dave Brubeck album was a real find - mint condition and only $5. This particular version of the Quartet has Jerry Bergonzi on tenor, Chris Brubeck doubling on electric bass and trombone, and drummer Butch Miles joining Brubeck senior.

Bergonzi has a Coltrane inspired tenor approach which is very different to the Paul Desmond sound, but the combo sounds great in these new clothes. Standout tracks are Hometown Blues and Yesterdays.

I'd been searching for the Andy Pratt album for a while. Recently, I have embarked on a project to collect albums on the Nemperor label because it was started in 1966 by Brian Epstein and his American associates, and like Apple, Grunt, et al - it's cool.

Like Apple Records, it's an eclectic roster - jazz fusion, rock and folk pop artists. I like that - means listening to new things. Andy Pratt is a case in point. He is someone I wouldn't ordinarily collect but he's a fine singer songwriter and his records are highly regarded.

Similar story with the Stairsteps album on Dark Horse Records. Billy Preston was the conduit to this appearance on George Harrison's label.

They're not a band I'd normally collect but their appearance on Dark Horse makes them a must have. Sure enough, it's a bit too slick for my tastes but their harmonies are spot on. They just needed another mega hit song like Ooh Child to seal the deal.

Where do they all belong? A Keni Burke solo album remains on my Dark Horse list. Dhani has reactivated the label and is releasing a lot of stuff that I might get to but my priority remains the original stuff that George approved. There is a lot more to collect on Nemperor.

Three to get ready and four to go (Dave Brubeck) (LP 823)

Dave Brubeck Quartet  The 25th DBQ Anniversary Reunion (Vinyl, Horizon Records, 1976) *** 

Genre: Jazz 

Places I remember: Facebook seller

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: St Louis Blues (couldn't find the 1976 version so here they are in their 1964 glory)

Gear costume: Take Five from 1976

Active compensatory factors: After eight years apart, Dave got the band back together and they easily locked into their groove.

I find the set uneven as it aims to be democratic - so Eugene Wright gets to stretch out on his African Times Suite and Joe Morello gets some drum solos along the way.

The highlights for me are when all four embrace the collective and free form around some old favourites. 

St Louis Blues is a clear standout with Dave on fiery form. Paul Desmond is his usual brilliant self throughout.

Where do they all belong? An unlikely hit (bit weird seeing them all in long hair, mid-seventies style though).

Nomad (Dave Brubeck Quartet) (LP 492 - 497)

The Dave Brubeck Quartet Jazz Impressions Of Eurasia (CD, Avid Jazz, 1958) ***

Dave Brubeck Dave Brubeck At Storyville 1954 (CD, Avid Jazz, 1954) **

Dave Brubeck Quartet Jazz Impressions Of The USA (CD, Avid Jazz, 1957) ***

The Dave Brubeck Quartet Dave Digs Disney (CD, Avid Jazz, 1957) **** 

Dave Brubeck Quartet Southern Scene (CD, Avid Jazz, 1960) **** 

The Dave Brubeck Quartet The Dave Brubeck Quartet In Europe (CD, Avid Jazz, 1958) *** 

Genre: Piano Jazz

Places I remember: JB HiFi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Calcutta Blues (Jazz Impressions Of Eurasia); Little Rock Getaway (Southern Scene)

Gear costume: When You're Smiling (At Storyville 1954); Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen (Southern Scene) 

Active compensatory factors: This compilation of Brubeck albums also contains the classic Time Out album, which I've written about already.

The Eurasia album has some interesting textures, and is very different to Time Out. 

The 1954 Storyville set isn't all that well recorded - technology for live recordings being what it was back in the early fifties. 

Jazz Impressions of the USA is split over the two sets and is good but not great. 

Where do they all belong? These great value reissue packages are my final batch of Dave Brubeck albums on CD. 

I think my dad would have been impressed by how many Dave Brubeck albums I actually own - many more than he did when he was around.

One moment worth years (Dave Brubeck) (LP 375 - 380)

Dave Brubeck Countdown: Time In Outer Space (CD, CBS/Sony Music, 19) ***
Dave Brubeck Time Changes (CD, CBS/Sony Music, 19) **
Dave Brubeck Time In (CD, CBS/Sony Music, 19) ***
Dave Brubeck Jazz: Red Hot and Cool (CD, Avid Jazz, 19) ****
Dave Brubeck Newport 1958 (CD, Avid Jazz, 19) ***
Dave Brubeck Jazz Goes To Junior College (CD, Avid Jazz, 19) ***


Genre: Cool Jazz 

Places I remember: HMV (various in England)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Perdido (from Newport 1958)




Gear costume:  Lover (from Jazz:Red Hot and Cool) 

Active compensatory factors: This penultimate wrap up of Brubeck releases that I have on CD takes in two multi-packs: the Original Classic Album series (I've already written about Time Out and Time Further Out) and the Three Classic Albums Plus set (pictured right).

The results are varied - from the worst (Time Changes is the quartet with orchestra and it's mainly the orchestra that takes centre stage) to the best (Jazz: Red Hot and Cool).

No doubt the Red Hot refers to the babe on the cover and the Cool is Dave but this live set is smoking!

Where do they all belong? One more edition of the multi-packs to come with a bumper crop of Brubeck releases.

Everybody's jumpin' (The Dave Brubeck Quartet) (LP 44-47)

The Dave Brubeck Quartet  Gone With The Wind (Vinyl - Coronet Records, 1959) ***
The Dave Brubeck Quartet  Time Out (Vinyl + CD - Coronet Records, 1959) *****
The Dave Brubeck Quartet   Brubeck and Rushing (Vinyl - Coronet Records, 1960) **
The Dave Brubeck Quartet  Time Further Out (Vinyl + CD - Coronet Records, 1961) **** 

Genre: Jazz

Places I remember: All four vinyl albums are from my father's collection. Time Out has a Marbecks Records sticker!

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Justifiably, Take Five and Blue Rondo A La Turk were the big hits.






Gear costume: Camptown Races (2 versions) takes off in joyous fashion (Gone With The Wind); Bru's Boogie Woogie; Maori Blues (both from Time Further Out).

Active compensatory factors: These albums have been around almost as long as I have (I was two in 1959) and they've always been a part of my life.

My father was VERY keen on Dave Brubeck! He loved that cool quartet/ piano jazz sound right up to the end of his life (when Diana Krall was his main squeeze). 

Interestingly, he knew how to play the piano and he was pretty good at it - having had lessons in his youth and passing piano exams. But we never, ever, had a piano in the house and I never, ever, heard him play. Weird. I guess he was only taking the lessons to please his mother and then gave up on it when he could. Electronics was much more his bag.

Brubeck was amazingly productive - these four albums cover only three years in Brubeck's lengthy career.

Incredibly, The Riddle was a third album recorded in 1959 but dad didn't have that one.

The story goes that Gone With The Wind was the commercial album that Columbia insisted on before the band recorded the adventurous Time Out. It's cool sounding but not as adventurous, and as a consequence doesn't have the pulling power of the classic Time Out. Dad obviously loved it though - it's been played a lot as the surface scratches can attest (especially on side 1).

True confession time - I wasn't a jazz fan until hitting my twenties but I still knew a great sound when I heard it and Take Five is a great sound and never fails to thrill. I've since played the whole album a lot!

Paul Desmond was a great foil for Brubeck and he dominates the sound on Time Out. There is still wonderful space on these tracks for the quartet to stretch out; that includes drummer Joe Morello and bassman Gene Wright. But it's Desmond's fluid alto sound and Brubeck's experimental piano that are the recognisible features of the band. 

The Jimmy Rushing album is not really to my taste. The jazz backing to a blues shouter (Rushing is not as appealing to me as Big Joe Turner) doesn't move me.

Time Further Out is much better. Desmond's alto sounds slightly raspy compared to the smooth Time Out tracks but that's not a bad thing. There's a new playfulness, especially on side 2's boogie work out (Bru's Boogie Woogie) and Unsquare Dance. 

Where do they all belong? More Brubeck to come - lots more!

Can you hear us pumping on your stereo? (Supergrass)

This is my 100th post on this blog. That's fairly significant I think. 100 rants about music.

What should I do to celebrate? Maybe a list of 100 somethings? Mmm no - that might be a bit of a bridge too far.

Maybe I could do a greatest hits type post of my favourite posts so far. Mmmm no again - they're all there if you want to dip into my back pages.

Instead I'd like to return to the beginning of it all and that was a post on April 13 in 2009 - just over two years ago.

Here's what I wrote:

So we (Jacky me and Samantha) were sitting in our favourite lunch place - Lush in New Plymouth's centre city - and Samantha was asking about my blogging for family/friends and why I didn't put more music posts on it and I said because a lot of wozza's place people don't read that stuff so I was limiting that from now on and Jacky (God bless her) said, "Why don't you just do a music blog and..." (I had drifted off into a distant realm). I think I said in a dreamy far away voice, "Of course - a blog just for my rants on music. But where do I start". Samantha helpfully suggested I start from the beginning!


The beginning - The beginning for me is watching the Ed Sullivan Show on New Zealand TV in maybe 1965 or 1966 (whenever NZBC got around to showing it. I was about 8 or 9) and wozza's place readers will know what effect that had on me. No surprise then that this blog is named after Lennon's walrus sound. The hooks were sharp and deep!

Actually - that wasn't, strictly speaking, the real beginning, now I come to think of it.

The real start of my musical adventures would involve my parents and their love of piano jazz and swing music. I would hear their choices around the house and gaze at the covers of the albums they owned long before The Beatles crashed my consciousness.

These would include albums by Dave Brubeck, Oscar Peterson, Errol Garner, Duke Ellington, Jimmy Smith, Glenn Miller, Woody Herman, and Frank Sinatra (my mother's favourite).

I guess what I meant, in that first post, was that the first music that was mine was the Beatles on Ed Sullivan.

In that first post I also did my own responses to the regular 'All Back To Mine' quiz in Mojo magazine. Seems timely that I do an update.
What music are you currently grooving to?
I'm still constantly buying and listening to music - right now I'm listening to my latest purchases, all of which I've picked up cheaply in the local Al Ain supermarkets: The Crowded  House waifs and strays compilation Afterglow which is excellent - their cast offs are better than some band's whole careers; A compilation entitled Saturday Night Divas (Tina Turner's Steamy Windows and Lene Marlin are on there so it's pretty fine); another compilation called Metal For The Masses (Lacuna Coil, Strapping Young Lad keep Deep Purple and Scorpions company); and a Supergrass compilation of hits - Supergrass is 10. I love their chirpy Britpop fun songs.
What, if push came to shove, is your all-time favourite album?
In all my various best of lists two albums have always vied for best ever - The Beatles white album (really called 'the Beatles'), and John Lennon's 1970 solo album - 'John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band'. The shock of the invention and honesty in each makes them my favs by some distance.


What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it?
I've an unreliable memory on this. I've always thought it was The Hollies single 'Hey Willie' that I bought from the record bar in 246 (a large mall in Queen St, Auckland). However this was in 1971 and I'd already got some albums before that for Christmas 1970 The Beatles 'Hey Jude' - from a record shop in Otahuhu and I also had a clutch of albums including a best of The Cowsills, a Monkees album and a Hollies album around this same time.


Which musician, other than yourself, have you ever wanted to be?
The Mojo questions are often given to musicians of course and I'm not one. However for a while there after seeing Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee in concert (I was about 10 feet away at Nambassa) I bought a blues harp and wailled along with Sonny - desperate to be as cool as he was.


What do you sing in the shower?
I wish I could sing, but a man's gotta know his limitations.


What is your favourite Saturday night song?
Let's have a Party by Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs is the finest thing to twitch around to that I know. Don't Let Go redone by Cold Chisel on their live album is also damn good.


And your Sunday morning record?
Currently it's a good time for some Jazz (Dexter Gordon), Buddha Lounge chill music or Rumer's excellent Seasons of My Soul album (makes me long to be in England too).

Sha da do wop, da shaman do way, We like birdland.

6 Dave Brubeck, ‘Take Five’; 7 Charlie Parker ‘Romance without finance’

I dabble in jazz. I have all the biggies – Coltrane, Rollins, Davis, Parker, Hancock, Getz, Byrd, MacLean, and Monk – and I genuinely enjoy listening to them, but I know I don’t get jazz like jazz lovers do. Otherwise I’d have a lot more in my collection. The Brubeck and Parker songs are two that I can hum for you and they are significant for very different reasons.

There was no avoiding jazz in my house. My father, God bless him, played it a lot and LOUD! He especially liked Dave Brubeck. I can remember thumbing through his albums and the Brubeck covers always stood out. I wasn’t sure about Dave though. He didn’t look much like a hip musician with those heavy black horn-rimmed glasses, short hair and suit. He looked like my dad!! Jazz guys were supposed to look hip, cool, and …well…black. Dave wasn’t. He reeked of whiteness. And geekhood - he played piano! I studied that Time Out cover a lot. It was sharp lines, edges and semi-circular shapes. No squares, but there should have been. The back cover talked about time signatures and other esoteric stuff like the emancipation of jazz that bored me rigid. Music is about feeling, right? Nevertheless I found myself playing the album from time to time and falling for the charms of Take Five. It began to take on a cool all of its own – even though played by the Bill Haley of the jazz world, and has now become a kind of shorthand for those fabulous fifties. Go figure.

Charlie Parker, on the other hand, was, to me, the epitome of cool when I started out on my own jazz collection, and the real deal. It helped he was black and played sax. On the Encores album that started me off, he was multi-hued with eyes closed, feeling his music. Recorded in 1944, Romance Without Finance, with vocals, was the first jazz song I could hang my hat on. Accessible, funny and with a side order of rude! When the lyric goes, “mama mama please give up that gold”, you know he ain’t about money!! In short, living in Birdland was nothing like Dave Brubeckville! But I love them both.



[No film of Parker doing this song as far as I can see.]