How Many Do You Want To Take ?

Many in the jazz world are a bit sniffy about the album Time Out by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. The main reason being of course that it committed the cardinal sin of selling a lot of copies, mainly because of the inclusion of the track Take Five which seemed to catch the public imagination way back when. It does what it sets out to do in an exemplary fashion however. Accurately described as chamber jazz, it certainly relies a lot on composition and arrangement and there's not much wild blowing or improvisation. A lot of early swing was heavily arranged though and Brubeck just updated that concept into what at that time in 1959 was called "modern jazz". There's much to admire in the musicanship, Paul Desmond's sax tone and control, Joe Morello's rim shot drumming and a solid bass from Eugene Wright. Brubeck's not a virtuoso fireworks kind of pianist but he fits the overall cool concept and it is his project.