I delayed reviewing this album for
an extra day just so I could listen to it a little more.
Disc 846 is….Time Out
Artist: The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Year of Release: 1959
What’s up with the Cover? I’m not sure. Some modern art
from back in the fifties. This isn’t usually my thing, but I really like it
here, and it suits the record well.
How I Came To Know It: Sheila introduced me to Dave
Brubeck. I think her dad introduced her (he was a jazz guy) and we even have
his copy of this album on vinyl, which is pretty cool.
How It Stacks Up: This is the only Dave Brubeck album we have so
it can’t really stack up.
Ratings: 5 stars
“Time Out” is the greatest jazz record of all time
and I should know, because I have like eight
jazz albums. I’m pretty much an expert.
Actually, I know next to nothing about jazz. I rarely
understand it and I enjoy it even less often, which is what makes “Time Out”
such a revelation. Four musicians – Dave Brubeck (piano), Paul Desmond (saxophone),
Eugene Wright (bass) and Joe Morello (drums) all at the height of their craft;
each one contributing their genius to make something greater than the sum of
its parts.
“Time Out” is energized but never frantic. This is
an album for a stroll through your favourite city. You can walk quickly and
feel the electricity of it all, or you can amble down the backstreets and enjoy
how chill it is. You can spend your time following the rhythm section around,
or you can float on the melodies supplied by the piano and saxophone. You can’t
go wrong, because there aren’t any missteps anywhere in the mix.
The album is appropriately titled, with its varied
time signatures, each more complicated than the last. I’d point out what they
are but I don’t understand music well enough to decipher them. There are lots
of articles on line that will do it for you, though, since this record has
rightly captured the attention of generations of music lovers. What I do know
is when you listen to it the general absence of obvious 3/4 or 4/4 time signatures
gives the music a restless quality. You’re not sure where it is going to land
at any given moment and this keeps your ear active to every turn of the song.
Similarly the melody plays against itself, echoing
its way back and forth through various chord progressions. Again, I can’t
explain how it all works because I don’t know music theory well enough to do it
justice. I just know there is a symmetry and balance throughout. It is the
musical equivalent of a tap dancer playing at being slightly out of balance to
create energy and drama, yet knowing exactly where his heel or toe is going to
land next. Put another way this album takes complex math equations and makes
them beautiful.
In lesser hands playing fast and loose with the time
signature and bouncing around inside the melody like this is a recipe for
disaster. Too often jazz musicians are trying to show the audience how clever
they are and fail to make a song listenable. Clever doesn’t always equal good.
Dave Brubeck and his gang of masters do not let
their egos wreck their songs. Every track is a joy; a musical journey where
each step is in a new direction. Despite the shifts in focus the notes are so
artfully placed you are just happy to be along to see where the musical walk
will take you.
At the end of this record’s all too short 38 minutes
I always feel both well rested and alert. It is like I’ve been meditating the
whole time and come out of the experience recharged and relaxed.
“Time Out” was recorded over 45 years ago, but it
remains as fresh and interesting as ever. It is one of those albums that I know
I’ll play hundreds of times between now and the day I shuffle off this mortal
coil and never tire of hearing it. It is a masterpiece.
Best
tracks: All tracks
No comments:
Post a Comment