eisenheim

Dave Brubeck Quartet
London 1966 [no label, 1CD]
Live in London, Great Britain, November 1966. Very good FM broadcast.

Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck is best associated with Take Five, the classic track from the 1959 album, Time Out, though the song was composed by Brubeck's partner and saxophonist Paul Desmond.

Listening to this November 1966 set, one walks away with the feeling that Brubeck is a generous person. Very often it is Desmond who is in the spotlight, maybe because he gets the melodic lines, but Brubeck does not shoulder his way in while bassist Eugene Wright gets to shine with drummer Joe Morello ably covering the bases.

Melodic and gently swinging are probably the terms that come to mind when describing Brubeck's music and, by 1966, the quartet is a well-oiled machine with the performance coming across as effortless. The quartet might have had their biggest hit in 1959 but here, with a new album in the racks - 1966's Time In - the group is still raring to go. Apart from their hit "single" and classics such as Take The A-Train, the set list included Forty Days and Softly, William, Softly, both featured on the Time In album.

The following is from a colleague of Dave Brubeck:

"I work with Dave Brubeck and the Brubeck Institute, and Dave wanted me to tell you all that he is perfectly fine with everybody trading his shows, but he wants me to download everything that goes up so he can hear it. You should have seen the look on his face when I played some of the stuff I have grabbed off of here. He is 87, but he still has the spirit and drive of a young man. Anyways, the purpose of this message is really to say 'thanks', and keep up the Brubeck, especially if you want Dave to hear it."