Listen No 2 - Time Out by the Dave Brubeck
Genre: Jazz/West Coast Jazz
Context: No shortage of context info for this record. Released in 1959, by Columbia Records, Time Out was the first jazz album to sell a million copies. The album is known for its radical departure from 4/4 musical time, and the seeds of Time Out lie in a state-funded trip that Brubecks’ quartet took to India in 1958. The trip shook up Brubeck’s style big time. Have a look at the article below - it’s fascinating.
Notable facts: Take Five was the first jazz single to sell a million copies. Disc jockeys didn’t stop playing it, but its composer Desmond thought it would be a flop. He thought the royalties from it would just about fund a new electric razor!
The cover is also very unusual for the time as jazz records in the 50’s were usually just a photo of the artist. Sadamitsu “S. Neil” Fujita, graphic designer at Columbia, created the striking cover. His work also included book covers for The Godfather and In Cold Blood.
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/s-neil-fujita
What critics made of it: Some disagreement. Huge public acclaim, but some jazz critics felt Brubeck didn’t deserve it. Once again, I am out of my depth, and suggest reading Rediscovering Dave Brubeck/What the Critics Say
https://www.pbs.org/brubeck/theMusic/criticGeorgeWein.htm
My favourite track: Blue Rondo à la Turk. This stunned me from the first listen. The drumming!
Listening to this inspired me to: start learning about jazz! Thank God I’ve finally heard this and I wouldn’t if Richard hadn’t had it in his trove of LPs. I’ve already bought Time Outtakes and Brubeck Meets Bach. I always intended the music part of this blog to be something that took me to CDS never heard, and articles not yet read. It’s this kind of meandering research that makes me most happy, and alive. So here I am, at Record No. 2, in my element.