It is a classic.  It is one that people probably know.  It is Dave Brubeck’s “Time Out” and it is a great album through and through.  You can actually find the album at the MusicIP site you can find through b5media. 

The album’s signature song is the track “Take Five.”  If you take a listen to it, you have probably heard it.  It has appeared in movies and commercials and was the unlikely hit off of the album.

The entire album was meant to be an experiment.  It was to be a bunch of tunes played in strange and abnormal time signaturesm particularly the 5/4 signature.  Brubeck and his Quartet of Paul Desmond, Gene Wright and Joe Morello created a  number of original compositions in that signature.  They had hopes that it would be well-received by other musicians and critics, but the label was reluctant to release the album.  It just didn’t seem to have any hits on it.

“Take Five” was the one song the group felt had the least potential.  It was meant to be a show piece for the drummer, Joe Morello.  Of course, this became the huge hit.

The other songs on the album have also become jazz classics and often covered by other jazz musicians.  “Blue Rondo a la Turk” is the song that kicks things off.  “Strange Meadow Lark” comes next.  “Pick Up Sticks” closes out the album.

It is an album that just doesn’t sound like any other of that time and really, doesn’t sound much like anything you can find now.  There is a reason that “Take Five” still gets played on the Chicago New Age Jazz station.  Brubeck’s piano as rhythm just has to be heard to be believed.

So, if you own no other jazz album, this one you really need to check out.  It’s unlike anything else you will hear in the jazz world.  It is a classic and it is great.

Brubeck went on to create some other great classics.  For example, he is the composer and performer of the “Charlie Brown Theme.”  So, some things he created may be better known at large, but little has surpassed the artistry and sound of “Time Out.”

Post from: Jazz & Blues Lounge