Jazz Red Hot And Cool - Dave Brubeck

 

Love Walked In

Jazz: Red Hot And Cool

The Dave Brubeck Quartet

Featuring Paul Desmond

With Bob Bates (Bass) and Joe Dodge (Drums)

Recorded at the Basin Street night club in New York

Columbia Records CL 699

1957

From the back cover: This collection of performances by the Dave Brubeck Quartet was made on the bandstand at Basin street during Dave's engagement at New York's top jazz spot in October 1954 and July 1955. As usual, Dave's time in New York was limited, so it was decided to try recoding mis-en-scene, not only because of the time problem but because of the ever-present possibility that a performance before a night club audience might contain an extra dash of inspiration.

All the elements of the Brubeck style which have already won the Quartet a high place in jazz annals are in this album – the use of counterpoint. Brubeck and Desmond "going out" while Bates and Dodge "hold the lifeline." the evocations of classical and modern musical practice, and of course the almost hypnotic way in which each improvisation unreels in a mixture of fanciful flight and a solid "always there" beat.

Something very new has been added Lover, however. Advance reaction to public performances of this arrangement indicates that it will create something of a sensation among record fans. Dave begins at the piano in a casual sort of way, but the listener soon realizes that dave is thinking in 3/4 despite the ever-more insistent 4/4 of Joe Dodge's drums. Paul's entrance in the second chorus confirms this; he, Dave, and Bob Bates romp in three, while Joe holds the fast four. Dave takes the performance out with an improvised chorus, and then throws in an ad-lib coda which rounds off this unique interpretation. This routine, which has never been written down, started with a conception of Paul Desmond's. Working with each member of the Quartet in turn, Paul got his ideas across sufficiently to try the "arrangement," and gradually it grew to its present form. (The effect is reminiscent of some of the contrapuntal experiments begun many years ago by the Brubeck Octet.)

Little Girl Blue is in an orthodox groove, if one can call such an extraordinary series of choruses orthodox. It swings all the way without losing its reflective character. It is one of the most lyric of the Quartet's performances, despite its drive.

Most of the Quartet;s arrangements are first choruses only, with a return at the end (sometimes for only eight bars). Brubeck enjoys making these arrangements exercises in fugal or polytonal writing. Fare Thee Well, Annabelle is an example of how Dave can take an opening bit of melody and make it dominate most of the chorus; in this instance he turns it into a three-part round. The last chorus is a repeat of this intricate little game, and in between first Paul and then Dave indulge in some of their finest "Free association" improvising.

Sometimes I'm Happy is happy all the way. It is an exciting romp capped by some pretty wild piano by dDave; any time you switch smoothly from a bit of contractual hocus-pocus to old-school country piano to an oriental duet with a saxophone (underscored by some Sacre-type foundation piano) in the same of a few bars, there's a lot of imagination and skill loose on the premises.

The Duke (Ellington, of course) is an admiring caricature sketched in clear ink lines: a catchy slow-jog melody which develops into quite a portrait before it is completed. Desmond joins in on the middle only, and Dave returns to the original mood for a closing. Written by Brubeck, it is obviously concerned as a whole despite the separately constructed middle section. the development is clean, spare, and sharp throughout.

Still another performance in which Dave opens and close the arrangement is Indiana, a free-wheeling job with is actually improvised throughout, and in which Dave gets off some counter-rhythms recalling the old-time New Orleans pianists. Love Walked In lopes along in a fine series of swinging choruses, topped by Dave's two-art counterpoint in his last solo chorus. It is a great example of how the Brubeck Quartet can get into a groove without letting the performance turn it into a rut. As with the faster Indiana, the whole effect depends on the improvisational ability of the musicians, and they come through admirably.

The cover photograph of the album, taken by Helen Rubinstein at the hungry i in San Francisco, is the same as the one which is currently appearing in the advertisements and promotional material for Helena Rubinstein's new lipstick, "Jazz: Red Hot and Cool." (It's the same shade of red as the dress worn by the young lady who is digging Dave.) Thus the cover and title of this album is part of ta Rubinstein-Columbia promotion which extends to the publicizing of the Columbia jazz catalog and the inclusion of a record, containing four extracts from Columbia jazz albums, in the special package win which the lipstick is sold. All of which proves that if someone comes up with a bright new idea, it is entirely possible to do business an help a group of jazz musicians at the same time. – George Avakian

Lover

Little Girl Blue

Fare Thee All, Annabelle

Sometimes I'm Happy

The Duke

Indiana

Love Walked In