Blues in time (Mulligan/ Desmond) (LP 1002)

Gerry Mulligan and Paul Desmond Quartet  Gerry Mulligan and Paul Desmond Quartet (Vinyl, Verve Records, 1957) ****  

Genre: Jazz 

Places I remember: The Little Red Bookshop (Hastings)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Line For Lyons

Gear costume: Fallout

Active compensatory factors: This is a great mix of two different sax styles. Isn't it amazing - same instrument but wildly different tones and sounds.

Thanks to Dave Brubeck, I am much more aware of Paul Desmond than I am Gerry Mulligan. Desmond has that ultra smooth sound that he perfected inside the Dave Brubeck classic quartet, Mulligan is harsher by comparison, yet still well inside the cool school.

Sidebar: I am unashameably anti smoking and it really pisses me off how many jazz album covers feature the protagonist in various poses holding, or smoking a cigarette. Not smart. Not clever Gerry. I don't like it.

Where do they all belong? A stand alone album in the jazz section.

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.

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!