Dave Brubeck - Time Out
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Free Music Notes for Time Out
Free Music Review: TRUE BIRTHPLACE FOR MANY JAZZ LOVERS
Hit: 5 Stars
Many people (especially of a certain age--I'm 49) will claim that Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue was their introduction to their love for jazz. I am telling you that 9 out of 10 of those people are lying. For most of us, our real introduction to jazz was this album, Time Out. For reasons we won't get into here, it is thought to be cooler to say that one was turned on to jazz by Miles. Maybe it is cooler--but for most of us it isn't the truth.Brubeck to this day wants to perform to the public. He well remembers when jazz was popular music. Hence, he doesn't get defensive when non-jazz lovers like his music. Indeed, that is why this album is so popular and so important. Even people who are largely ignorant of jazz like this music. We can talk about Brubeck's use of unusual time-signatures; but most people won't understand what you are talking about. The great majority never have sat down to 5 minutes of music theory. Those of us young teenagers who loved the Beatles and the Stones instantly liked this album--we didn't know why.
The point is we genuinely liked Brubeck and we were astonished that we liked anything called "jazz". Just as important, some of us began to explore jazz from here. Yes, Miles is great; but he came later. As great as it is, if the first exposure to jazz most of us had was Kind Of Blue we would never have come to like jazz at all.
To this day, I love this album. It is bright, funny and intelligent. It is one of those rare works in which the uneducated and the most learned can profit from. Maybe other jazz lovers look down their noses at Time Out; but they do so for reasons that have nothing to do with the music. In their heart of hearts, I'll bet they still like it.
Free Music Review: On the Really Short List of Great Jazz CDs
Hit: 5 Stars
An incredibly novel concept at the time, Brubeck launced almost a whole different genre within a genre with TIME OUT. The two most distinctive and famous tracks are "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo a la Turk," without question, but the others stand on their own, as well. If you programmed out those two tracks, the CD sounds great still."Take Five" sounds so natural in its odd time signature, 5/4. Brubeck really takes a back seat on this tune, playing the same six chords in the first measure hundreds of times consecutively, while the other guys shine in solos and improvisational work. Desmond is great on the sax, but Morrello really shines on the drums. He does some incredible soloing over the top of Brubeck's repetitive piano work. It was nice to see this song get some recognition and notoriety in an episode of ER a few years ago: Doug Ross and Mark Green were driving out in California, and virtually the entire song was used as foreground music, not just a ten-second clip in the background.
The liner note explanation of the title of "Blue Rondo" is almost as fascinating as the song itself. Al Jarreau, an irrepresible vocalist, put lyrics to it and recorded it on one of his CDs (Breakin' Away, I believe--it's very cool!). The other tracks are great, even if a bit overshadowed by the big two.
Bottom Line: Brubeck may be on the second tier of jazz greats according to many jazz critics and experts (some might put him even lower), but this CD stands in select company and on a very short list of great, influential, and accessible jazz CDs. It is absolutely indispensable. TIME FURTHER OUT, a follow-up CD is well worth checking into, as well.
Free Music Review: Sublime and Divine
Hit: 5 Stars
Being born in 1967, my exposure to jazz was limited at best. I knew the names of the greats but was not well versed on the genre. Enter my grandmother, who for her day, was certainly a vanguard in many respects. The album cover always fascinated me and was certainly one of the reasons I became fascinated with Art and subsequently had an art history major.Although I always remembered "Take 5" and liked it, mostly for nostalgia reasons I really was not aware of what other amazing songs were on this CD (in my case). I have always been a little skiddish of Jazz in particular, progressive mostly because I didn't have the capacity, or perhaps the maturity to understand it.
Eventually, I decided it was time to give the entire CD a listen and I was completely blown away! I was astounded at the pure talent that all of the musicians posessed (and at times, I think they were possesed, in a good way). There is no way I would be able to select a favorite track on this. It opens with the beautiful "Blue Turk a la Rondo" which starts with a wonderful display of technical skills and continues to flow through the rest of CD much in the same manner. I am not a musician, but it was obvious to me that they were experimenting with times and not using typical 2/4 or 3/4 and while normally I would have had difficulty listening to something other than what is mainstream time, I found that it flowed seamlessly throughout.
As I said before, I am not well versed on jazz but I certainly am going to explore other artists based on this CD. If you happen to be like I was, "Jazz Challenged", try this one on for size, you will be glad you did!
Free Music Review: The soundtrack of post-war suburban America
Hit: 5 Stars
Even if you've never purchased this CD, you may well have already heard it and enjoyed it. As a baby-boomer, some of my earliest memories in the early 60's are of the sounds of "Blue Rondo.." and the rest coming from the hi-fi in the living room while my parents sipped cocktails with the neighbors. The West-coast cool jazz of the period flourished because it was accessible and didn't demand (although it deserved) the full attention of its audience; hence it was also great background music for suburban cocktail parties on lazy weekends. That's not a slam; it's just a practical observation. This music has an important place in American history; it speaks of the vigorous new courage and affluence of our nation at that time. I bought my own LP copy when I was in college, largely because of sentimentality. Then I really LISTENED to it. I haven't stopped listening for more than 20 years.
People who are much more enthusiastic about Jazz than I am, tend to dismiss the conventional overtones in West-coast music and "Time Out" (even as the album pioneered new time signatures--whatever the heck that really means). But it is elegant in its simplicity, its mellow, its cool, and it is certainly not conventional. No, Brubeck didn't set the stage for the Jazz that came later, in the way Miles did, but he was a master of what he did and it shows here.
Is this a great introduction to modern jazz for the beginner? Probably not. As broad as my tastes are, I still get lost in the more progressive jazz that followed in the 70s. What it is, though, is great music, period. Buy it.
Free Music Review: Music for your Heart......and Mind!
Hit: 5 Stars
While it's true that I cannot add any more superlatives to what has already been written about this disc I still felt the need to add my two cents. After a lengthy absence I recently put the cd back on my "turntable" and immediately was reminded why I love this record so much. The record truly does demand a listener's full attention since Brubeck's quartet rarely plays anything as simple as 4/4 time. And while the title track has perhaps been over- analyzed, at the expense of the rest of the cd, I still listen in complete awe. And bear in mind that "Take 5" is the first actual song to be "spliced" together from two seperate sessions.A neat "trick" that Brubeck believed, and I quote " really saved my ( fill in the blank!)" And, lest they be completely forgotten, "Kathy's Waltz" and "Blue Rondo a la Turk" are still perhaps two of the most impressive pieces ever written for jazz piano. All in all a cd that asks you to listen with your mind as well as your heart... and who could ask for more than that when purchasing any piece of music!
I often tell friends, who don't consider themselves jazz lovers, to purchase this and Miles Davis "Kind of Blue". Jazz has always been considered a truly American style of music and what better representation of that then these two discs! So when you find yourself at your local record store next time take a chance and purchase this wonderful disc.The epitome of "cool jazz." If you find it half as stimulating as I always do than you'll be in good company.