Dave Brubeck Music

I had this album back around 1972 and loved it. I lent it to a jazz musican name Dick McCarthy in Lewistown, Pa. The album came backed incredibly warped an thouroughly unplayable. It has taken over thirty years to track this recording down but it was worth it!!!!!!!!! This album is must have for all Brubeck fans. FYI the Blessed are the Poor and Forty Days are the prototype to another work called,"Open the Gates,Make Way for the People".

Jazz comes in all sizes and flavors. Orchestral jazz is the largest and, if done properly, one of the most flavorful. The best material does more than just provide schmaltzy string backup to a solo artist; it integrates everything that the strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion have to offer. This album lives up to that high standard.
"Happy Anniversary" is a spirited opening track that has everyone interjecting familiar phrases but somehow always returning to the piece's main theme. "The Duke" is a very different and interesting arrangement of Brubeck's well-known tribute to Duke Ellington. "Blessed Are the Poor" and "Forty Days" are both hauntingly beautiful, but in different ways. The real showpiece of the album is the 15.5-minute final track "Elementals." It starts slow and mysterious, then gradually builds in tempo and intensity. The recurring themes in the full ensemble will take you soaring, and the big finish demonstrates a power that only an orchestra can wield.
This 1970 recording was not the first collaboration between the Dave Brubeck trio and the Cincinnati Symphony under conductor Erich Kunzel, but the addition of Gerry Mulligan on baritone sax makes it stand out. This kind of musical experience doesn't happen as often as it once did, and seldom gets recorded for wide release anymore. This is a gem - pick it up if you have any fondness for orchestral jazz or for any of these artists.

The first time I bought this album was on cassette. I didnt think much about it until I arrived home and played it. Wow, the fusion of Jazz by the Dave Brubeck Trio and Gerry Mulligan, backed up by the classical input of the Cincinnati Symphony was new to me, and soon I was enthralled. I especially like the haunting 'Blessed are the Poor'. Its like I know the tune somehow, deep in my subconscious, as if I only hear it in my dreams. Brubeck was able to come out and make it music. Fantastic.

I had this album back around 1972 and loved it. I lent it to a jazz musican name Dick McCarthy in Lewistown, Pa. The album came backed incredibly warped an thouroughly unplayable. It has taken over thirty years to track this recording down but it was worth it!!!!!!!!! This album is must have for all Brubeck fans. FYI the Blessed are the Poor and Forty Days are the prototype to another work called,"Open the Gates,Make Way for the People".

Jazz comes in all sizes and flavors. Orchestral jazz is the largest and, if done properly, one of the most flavorful. The best material does more than just provide schmaltzy string backup to a solo artist; it integrates everything that the strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion have to offer. This album lives up to that high standard.
"Happy Anniversary" is a spirited opening track that has everyone interjecting familiar phrases but somehow always returning to the piece's main theme. "The Duke" is a very different and interesting arrangement of Brubeck's well-known tribute to Duke Ellington. "Blessed Are the Poor" and "Forty Days" are both hauntingly beautiful, but in different ways. The real showpiece of the album is the 15.5-minute final track "Elementals." It starts slow and mysterious, then gradually builds in tempo and intensity. The recurring themes in the full ensemble will take you soaring, and the big finish demonstrates a power that only an orchestra can wield.
This 1970 recording was not the first collaboration between the Dave Brubeck trio and the Cincinnati Symphony under conductor Erich Kunzel, but the addition of Gerry Mulligan on baritone sax makes it stand out. This kind of musical experience doesn't happen as often as it once did, and seldom gets recorded for wide release anymore. This is a gem - pick it up if you have any fondness for orchestral jazz or for any of these artists.

The first time I bought this album was on cassette. I didnt think much about it until I arrived home and played it. Wow, the fusion of Jazz by the Dave Brubeck Trio and Gerry Mulligan, backed up by the classical input of the Cincinnati Symphony was new to me, and soon I was enthralled. I especially like the haunting 'Blessed are the Poor'. Its like I know the tune somehow, deep in my subconscious, as if I only hear it in my dreams. Brubeck was able to come out and make it music. Fantastic.

I'm not a big fan of jazz, but I liked Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" so much that, once I learned what it was called, I bought this album almost 30 years ago. Have recently copied it onto a CD. A good album for the casual listener. Song titles below.

1. Take Five
2. Night And Day
3. I'm In A Dancing Mood
4. Castilian Drums
5. Camptown Races
6. St. Louis Blues
7. Unsquare Dance
8. Two Part Contention
9. Trolley Song
10. It's A Raggy Waltz
11. My Favorite Things
12. Let's Get Away From It All
13. The Duke
14. Coracao Sensivel (Tender Heart)
15. Someday My Prince Will Come
16. Blue Rondo A La Turk

This is a great CD, great collection of instrumental jazz from Dave Brubeck!! My new favorite CD.

Some people affirm that the early years of Dave Brubeck's production are his best. If you agree, this may well be your best Brubeck in one disc: Blue Rondo, Take Five, Unsquare Dance...

Well, I've been a jazz music fan for a very short time so I can't yet say I'm this big connoisseur and all but...but I bought Dave's Greatest Hits cd yesterday and as I got home I put it into my cd player right away and listened to it three times in a row!!Couldn't help tapping and snapping to it. What a GREAT music, folks! I love all the tracks, especially that "Rondo a la Turk" one which I didn't know was one of Dave's milestones.
If you are looking for a real jazz masterpiece, try this cd and then tell me if I'm right. @.

This album contains many of the Brubecks's songs that I used to listen many years ago, including "Its a Raggy Waltz" and "Take Five", two of his true classics. It's a Raggy Waltz is a masterpiece, a very beautiful jazz song. I think it is interesting that you listen the samples.

Dave give us nice compositions with a sophisticated harmony.
Do not forget Paul Desmond, a very talented saxophonist that was essential to Brubeck's success.

Enjoy it

If you haven't herd any Brubeck music, this is the album you must get first, besides Time Out. This album has the greatest assortment of Brubeck tunes I ever herd in the best order.
You'll love this music, and the album itself.

Cuts 1 through 8 are from "Jazz at the Black Hawk" -- Fantasy 3-210 1953
Cuts 9 through 13 are from "Jazz at Storyville" -- Fantasy 3-240 1954
with cuts 4 and 5 combined into one track #12.
Cut 14 is a bonus track, not on the Storyville Album.
Brubeck/Desmond duets on Cuts 9 & 10
Brubeck Solo on Cut 7
Brubeck/Desmond/Lloyd Davis (Drums) Trio on Cut 4
All other cuts are Quartet featuring Bass (Ron Crotty or Wyatt Ruther) and
Drums (Lloyd Davis, Joe Dodge, or Herb Barman)

Pop this 15 track disc under the laser and get ready to enjoy 76 minutes of one of the most simpatico relationships in Modern Jazz history. Indeed Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond carry on the rich tradition layed down by Lennie Tristano and Warne Marsh but with more swing and less stoicism. I recommend this disc to anyone who likes long sweet alto lines and lyrical keyboard work. The rhythm section is servicable but the real stars are Mr. Brubeck and Mr. Desmond. The sound quality is fine as the material is culled from two live sets at The BlackHawk in San Francisco and Jazz at Storyville.

Cuts 1 through 8 are from "Jazz at the Black Hawk" -- Fantasy 3-210 1953
Cuts 9 through 13 are from "Jazz at Storyville" -- Fantasy 3-240 1954
with cuts 4 and 5 combined into one track #12.
Cut 14 is a bonus track, not on the Storyville Album.
Brubeck/Desmond duets on Cuts 9 & 10
Brubeck Solo on Cut 7
Brubeck/Desmond/Lloyd Davis (Drums) Trio on Cut 4
All other cuts are Quartet featuring Bass (Ron Crotty or Wyatt Ruther) and
Drums (Lloyd Davis, Joe Dodge, or Herb Barman)

Pop this 15 track disc under the laser and get ready to enjoy 76 minutes of one of the most simpatico relationships in Modern Jazz history. Indeed Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond carry on the rich tradition layed down by Lennie Tristano and Warne Marsh but with more swing and less stoicism. I recommend this disc to anyone who likes long sweet alto lines and lyrical keyboard work. The rhythm section is servicable but the real stars are Mr. Brubeck and Mr. Desmond. The sound quality is fine as the material is culled from two live sets at The BlackHawk in San Francisco and Jazz at Storyville.