Dave Brubeck: Seven Classic LPs (4 CDs) ENLIGHTENMENT

‘Cool Jazz’ personified, Dave Brubeck is one of few post-bop bandleaders to remain a household name well into the third millennium. With his favoured use of unconventional time-signatures, meters, rhythms and tonalities, which all together made for a unique style of jazz that incorporated elements of classical and other traditional musical forms, Brubeck was a commercial oddity in the late 1950s and early 1960s; a serious jazz performer who had hit singles. The early 1960s witnessed The Dave Brubeck Quartet garner even more commercial and critical success. Recorded in 1962, Bossa Nova U.S.A (Columbia, 1963) found the group flirt with ‘the cool wave of Brazil’, for which, with one eye on the pop chart, Brubeck composed a set in-keeping with current trends. It’s follow-up, Brubeck In Amsterdam (Columbia, 1963), a live album recorded in the Dutch capital in late ’62, was a more traditional affair, and found the Quartet in fine form on a number of Brubeck classics. The Dave Brubeck Quartet at Carnegie Hall (Columbia, 1963), an undeniable milestone in the group’s career, is often hailed as Brubeck’s greatest live album, with critic Jim Santella commenting; this is timeless music from a classic ensemble.’ On the 5th of December 2012, one day before his 92nd birthday, Dave Brubeck died following a cardiac arrest, many years after his legacy had been cemented. Named a Kennedy Center honouree in 2009 for contributions to American jazz, Dave Brubeck remains in memoriam as one of the greatest jazz composers and musicians of all time, becoming what the Los Angeles Times described as ‘one of jazz’s first pop stars.’ This 4 CD Box Set serves to highlight some of the Dave Brubeck Quartet’s greatest and oft-overlooked albums, all faithfully remastered and presented here as both a perfect introduction to the great man’s music, and as a welcome collection for those already versed in this extraordinary body of work.



– Disc 1 –
1 Bossa Nova U.S.A
2 Vento Fresco
3 Trolley Song
4 Theme for June
5 Coracao Sensival
6 Irmao Amigo
7 There’ll Be No Tomorrow
8 Cantiga Nova Song
9 Lamento
10 This Can’t Be Love
11 Since Love Had It’s Way
12 King for a Day
13 The Real Ambassador
14 They Say I Look Like God
15 Dizzy Ditty
16 Cultural Exchange
17 Good Reviews
18 Brandenburg Gate

– Disc 2 –
1 St Louis Blues
2 Bossa Nova U.S.A
3 For All We Know
4 Pennies from Heaven
5 Southern Scene
6 Three to Get Ready
7 Eleven Four
8 It’s a Raggy Waltz
9 King for a Day
10 Castillian Drums

– Disc 3 –
1 Blue Rondo a la Turk
2 Take Five
3 Iberia
4 Unisphere
5 Shim Wa
6 World’s Fair
7 Cable Car
8 Elementals
9 Tokyo Traffic
10 Rising Sun
11 Toki’s Theme
12 Fujiyama
13 Zen Is When
14 The City Is Crying
15 Osaka Blues
16 Koto Song

– Disc 4 –
1 Theme from Mr Broadway
2 Broadway Bossa Nova
3 Autumn in Washington Square
4 Something to Sing About
5 Sixth Sense
6 Spring in Central Park
7 Lonely Mr Broadway
8 Summer on the Sound
9 Winter Ballad
10 Broadway Romance
11 Upstage Rumba
12 St Louis Blues
13 Koto Song
14 Take the ‘A’ Train
15 Take Five