The Dave Brubeck Quartet In Europe

 

My One Bad Habit Is Falling In Love

The Dave Brubeck Quartet In Europe

Columbia CL 1168

1958

From the back cover: A Conversation with Dave Brubeck by Dave Brubeck

Time: May, 1958

Place: 7th Ave, at 52nd, New York City (Two men pass each other and do a "double take." Their conversation follows.)

Hey, Dave! Where you come from?

Yeah? Where you come from?

Baghdad.

Where you goin' from here?

Dallas.

How long you been travelin'?

Too long.

Got any new records out?

(Dave hands man a record album)

"The Dave Brubeck Quartet in Europe." Say, did you record this on tour?

This is a concert in Copenhagen.

When?

March 5th. The next day we went behind the Iron Curtain. That's how I can remember.

Who's on the record?

The same guys. Paul. Joe. Except for Gene Wright. He replaced Norman.

What happened to Norman Bates?

He just decided he didn't want to be away from his family for four months.

Four months?

We played two weeks in England, Scotland and Wales. Then we flew to Germany–

Did you play in East Berlin?

No, we played the Sports Palace in West Berlin and the East German kids came in droves. Our concert was the first one they were allowed legal entry. They would have sneaked over anyway so they figured they might as well let them come legally.

Where else did you play?

Amsterdam, Brussels. No, the Fair hadn't opened yet. Three cities in Sweden, then down to Copenhagen.

Are the Swedes really as hip as they say?

I guess per capita there is a higher percentage of jazz fans there than any place in the world. But the audiences were great wherever we okayed. I can't say one country has a monopoly on good audiences.

The audiences in Europe knew what was happening, huh?

They sure did. you can hear the Copenhagen audience on the record. When they were enthusiastic they clapped in rhythm. It was a swingin' audience.

What tunes did you record?

"Tangerine." "My One Bad Habit Is Falling In Love." "The Two Wright Groove." "Like Someone In Love." "Watusi Drums." Wonderful Copenhagen."

How did you find time to get a new album together?

It's not easy. It's hard to find rehearsal time when you're playing a difference city every night and traveling all day. "Tangerine" has been part of our book for quite a while. It's a stone that Paul likes to play on. "My One Bad Habit Is Falling In Love" is a tune that I wrote about six months ago and we just decided to try it that night. "The Wright Groove" was written by Eugene as a feature number for bass and we programmed it in every country to introduce Gene as the newest member of the Quartet. When we were trying to choose new material for recording Paul remembered the ballad "Like Someone In Love." It's a tune how's always wanted to play on and we ver got around to it until the day before our Copenhagen concert. Just before we left on tour I had written a number for Joe Morello, based on rhythmic ideas I had heard then years before on a African recording. We originally called it "Drums Along The Thames,"  because it was first performed in London at the Royal Festival Hall which is on the Thames. When we went to Poland it acme "Drums Along The Oder" or the "Vistula" or whatever river happened to be running near the town. Later, in Iraq I heard the same recordings from Africa I had heard years before, and discovered the source – the Watusi tribe. Se we changed titles to give credit were credit is due. The last tune is a natural to lay in Copenhagen. Frankly, I didn't have the nerve to suggest "Wonderful Copenhagen" to the other guys. It was a relief to hear Paul suggest that we play it as a  waltz against 4/4 as we did on "Someday My Prince Will Come" in the Disney album. So at Gothenburg, Sweden, I asked the audile for permission to rehearse a tune that we wanted to play the next night in Copenhagen. You can hear on the record the that Danes were very amused by our choice.

Did you record anywhere else on your tour?

Yes, we recorded a concert in Amsterdam, but I haven't listened to the tapes yet.

Why not?

It's a long story.

What happened?

If y9ou remember, at the end of February all of Northern Europe was hit by a blizzard. We were in Berlin and ground the day of the Amsterdam concert. Since Berline is an island surrounded by the Soviet zone, the only way in or out is to flu, unless you have a transit visa, which we did not. We hung around Templehof airport waiting for a break in the washer, and finally got a plane that was going as far as Dusseldorf. Once in Dusseldorf we were lucky, would get us into Amsterdam just in time for the concert. at the train station in Dusseldorf we learned that all trains were from two to six hours late, but there was a pissibilyt that our train, which originated in Vienna, would be on time. To get this information we had to comb the entire station to find someone who could speak English. We finally found an English-speaking employee in the baggage room. He sent us blocks underground through tunnels until we come out to the station platform where our train would pull in. He explained that we could eat an d stay warm in a little cubicle on the platform, which was about the size of a bus and rapidly filling up with stranded travelers. Our instruments and luggage were piled up outside on the platform and pull noticed that his typewriter was gone. Since all the other trains are hours late, Paul figured ours would b, too, and set out to retrace his steps through the tunnel. As soon as he left – you know what happened. The train pulled in exactly on time – our one and only hope of making the Amsterdam concert – and Paul wasn't there. I told Joe and Gene to ask the conductor to hold the train and I would find Paul. The conductor could speak only German, so communicating was hopeless. I was frantically gesturing the toe stain master in his little glassed-in cubicle that I wanted to speak on the p.a. system. Desmond was in the heart of the cavernous main station, when he calls hearing in resounding, pleading tones – "Desmond. Desmond. Come quick. The train is leaving." He said the entire station froze at the sound of English over the loudspeaker. He turned and ran out of there as fast as he could and caught the last car of the train as it was pulling out of the station. We arrived at the Concergebouw in Amsterdam a half hour late and played to a patiently waiting packed house. We were too beat to try to play new material for an album. And besides we wanted to give the audience a good program after their long wait. Someday I'll listen to the tapes. In circumstances like that you sometimes surprise yourselves.

Where else to you play, Dave?

For the State Department we toured Poland for two weeks; then we went in to Turkey, India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq – ten weeks altogether on the President's special Cultural Exchange Program.

Are you going to do a sequel to the "Jaws Impressions of the U. S. A.?

Yes, I've already written compositions inspired by the music of the various countries we visited. It will be issued by Columbia soon.

Gee, I'll bet you guys are glad to be back home. By the way, did Paul ever find his typewriter?

Yeah, he did, as a matter of fact. A Pan-American public relations girl, who had escorted us to the bus at the airport in Dusseldorf happened to see the typewriter in a little shop near the train station after she got through work. She recognized it as part of the luggage that belonged to those crazy American jazz musicians she had helped get to the next gig. The typewriter caught up with Paul in Stockholm.

So, everything had a happy ending, after all. 

If you like the record, it sure has.

Wonderful Copenhagen

My One Bad Habit Is Falling In Love

Tangerine

The Wright Groove

Like Someone In Love

Watusi Drums