Dave Brubeck Quartet, The - Jazz, Red Hot And Cool '2019

Tracks list

Recorded during three different stays at New Yorks Basin Street, Jazz: Red, Hot
and Cool is making its first appearance in the U.S. on CD. It documents -- with
the addition of two additional performances that were previously unissued -- the
original Brubeck quartet in its final years. In 1956 Joe Morello would replace
Joe Dodge, and in 1958 Eugene Wright would take over the bass chair from Bob
Bates. What strikes the listener about this band, is a having been seasoned for
five years when the first of these performances were recorded, the Brubeck
quartet was far more immersed in the blues than anyone -- at least the critics
of the time -- had given them credit for. Paul Desmonds alto tone had yet to
take on the dry martini velvety texture that became his trademark, and Brubeck
was not yet inserting the totality of his classical ideas about the
extrapolation of dissonance from consonance and its resulting harmonic theory
that was built on an elaborate contrapuntal system. These ideas, that were
introduced to him by the French composer and instructor Darius Milhaud and the
music of Shostakovich and Stravinsky would later result in the wildly inventive
tonal identity expressed in his compositions on Jazz Impressions of Eurasia,
Jazz Impressions of New York, and even Time Out. On this set, while Brubeck is
playing with large augmented chords and without the use of arpeggios, his
strident melodic sense keeps him rooted in the American vernacular musically.
There is the gorgeous, post-bop blues in Lover, and the Gershwin-esque balladic
structure employed in Little Girl Blue. Desmond, for his part was a constant,
the most rock steady part of the band. His solos were the epitome of melodic
improvisation even then. His break on Fare the Well, Annabelle, carries the
melody and harmony in its venturing. Brubeck, never content to just comp, offers
Desmond a few additions on the diminished seventh and he goes for them stitching
his counterpoint through them, taking the tunes body into an entirely new
intervallic mode. Brubecks solo quotes Mozarts Eine Kleine Nacht Musik,
Pachelbels Canon, and variations on a classical theme from the Orient -- Korea,
in fact, which was provocative, given the time. The beautiful reading given here
of Love Walked In is worthy of note because it features the band at its most
intimate, hunkered down inside the tunes melody, reworking it to close it off
even more from undue influence while re-creating its harmonic architecture. And
then theres The Duke, offered to Gil Evans, a simple stroll through the blues
with a nod to both Gershwin and Rogers & Hart. As the band launches into Indiana
the classic quartet flourish becomes evident; the rhythm section keeps it all
steady no matter what happens, and, in Desmonds solo, crossing rhythmic
patterns, full time signatures, and meter at lightning speed, this was no mean
feat. The two added performances Taking a Chance on Love and Closing Time Blues
were recorded a month after the previous four in August of 1955. Both of them
display Brubecks now trademark two-part counterpoint and Desmonds in flight
manner of response. They are worthy additions to a record that was already
wonderful for its inspiration and the way in which it displayed the bands
innovative energy that was unique to live situations.

01. The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Lover (Remastered) (5:08)
02. The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Little Girl Blue (Remastered) (10:40)
03. The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Fare Thee Well, Annabelle (Remastered) (7:23)
04. The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Sometimes Im Happy (Remastered) (5:23)
05. The Dave Brubeck Quartet - The Duke (Remastered) (2:46)
06. The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Indiana (Remastered) (5:55)
07. The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Love Walked In (Remastered) (8:47)
08. The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Taking A Chance On Love (Remastered) (4:12)
09. The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Closing Time Blues (Remastered) (6:57)

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