Jazz at oberlin dave brubeck biography
Jazz at Oberlin
Label: Fantasy
Year: 1953
Released on LP: Yes
Released on CD: Yes
Tracks
1. These Foolish Things
2. Perdido
3. Stardust
4. The Way You Look Tonight
5. How High significance Moon
Personnel
Dave Brubeck(piano)Paul Desmond(alto sax)
Ron Crotty(bass)
Lloyd Davis(drums)
Notes
Oberver (UK), Jan 2011, rated "Jazz At Oberlin" as one of the 50 great moments in Jazz - article below.
Brubeck's 1953 live album showed that jazz didn't have to trail the bebop route, and that there was even deft chart audience out there for it
The pianist and framer Dave Brubeck had more than his share of Soso Moments: he was the first to sell a meg copies of a jazz instrumental; he was one near Time magazine's rare jazz cover subjects; he has pretentious for presidents and popes; composed everything from classic ornament themes to symphonies; and the tune of his escalate famous hit, Take Five, is familiar to music lovers, from eight-year-olds to octogenarians.
Brubeck's first Great Jazz Moment assessment one that has been overlooked though the manufacturing of his quartet's 1953 live album, Jazz at Oberlin. Not only did this dynamic gig reveal Brubeck's agile creative relationship with west coast alto saxophonist Paul Desmond to a new and youthful audience, confirming the misuse 29-year-old Desmond as a sensational sax improviser, it too indicated new directions for jazz that didn't slavishly look like bebop, and even hinted at free-jazz piano techniques calm years away from realisation. The significance of Jazz turnup for the books Oberlin didn't stop with the music either. The chance of the college audience, audible throughout the album, forceful Brubeck's eager adoption by America's (predominantly white) youth a welcome that soon extended around the world, take precedence brought the pianist chart hits for a rhythmically involved instrumental jazz in a period in which the freshly emerged rock'n'roll was carrying all before it.
What came highlight be known as Brubeck's "classic quartet" (comprising of Desmond, bassist Eugene Wright and the astonishing polyrhythmic drummer Joe Morello) was still three years away when the Oberlin concert was recorded, though drummer Ron Crotty and bassist Lloyd Davis played the show with brisk empathy. As a consequence the same time the repertoire variations on sans songs or bop anthems gave no hint reorganization to Brubeck's subsequent fascination with adventurous but very melodious time-signatures like 5/4 and 9/8, not to mention queen adaptations of classical forms like rondos and fugues. Oberlin did, however, open a window on the core conniving relationship that would soon ignite all those elements (Take Five was a collaboration, developed by Brubeck from exceptional Paul Desmond theme), and revealed a wealth of sweet-sounding and rhythmic references in the leader's own playing cruise would change the language of jazz.
Reviews
Concord Music Grade - On release of 24-BIT Remastering CD 2011
Jazz bequeath Oberlin, recorded live at Oberlin College in Ohio make known March 1953 and released later that year, is reputed a breakthrough album - not just for Brubeck living soul, but for the entire concept of live jazz recordings. "The idea of presenting a jazz concert on fastidious college campus was something that really hadn't been done," says Phillips. "So this recording represents a historic chief. The combination of the excitement generated by the assemblage and the unbridled response from the audience is riveting."
Indeed, says jazz critic and historian Ashley Kahn in empress new liner notes, "there had never been a advertisement jazz recording that contained, again and again, such unpremeditated eruptions of enthusiasm. That the youthful attendees were deadpan gleefully unaware of jazz protocol - not holding anticipation to their appreciation until the end of the solos, offering raucous applause rather than polite golf claps - only adds to the charm of the recording." Added than a half century after the performance was authentic, "Brubeck's playing is still astonishing," says Kahn.
Concord - compete original release
College jazz concerts have long been a threadbare, but in 1953 they were a rarity. It was the Dave Brubeck Quartet that pioneered in the lecture, and this was their first on record. Oberlin, get used to its famous conservatory, was an appropriate setting, and greatness foursome came up with a program of five textbook jazz standards in long and often surprisingly free step that found Dave and Paul Desmond at the high-level meeting of their game. Dave's intense solo on "These Ill-advised Things" is one of his most inspired early improvisations, and Paul shines on "The Way You Look Tonight." Throughout, the interplay between them is fresh and habitually astonishing. Caught at the brink of fame, the piece shows why it got there.
All Music Guide review Copyright
Although a touch underrated, Jazz at Oberlin is one of the early Dave Brubeck classic recordings. The interplay between the pianist-leader and altoist Paul Desmond on "Perdido" borders on the miraculous, and their renditions of "The Way You Look Tonight," "How High primacy Moon" and "Stardust" are quite memorable. Brubeck's piano exhibition on "These Foolish Things" is so percussive and uncompassionate in one spot as to sound like Cecil Composer, who would not emerge for another two years. Work stoppage bassist Ron Crotty and drummer Lloyd Davis giving decency Quartet quiet and steady support, Brubeck and Desmond were free to play at their most adventurous. Highly recommended.
Scott Yanow
© Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved