What I Did Instead of Going to see Sons of Brubeck @ The Sage. Jazz 625 BBC4

Dave Brubeck Quartet: Dave Brubeck (piano); Paul Desmond (sax); Eugene Wright (bass); Joe Morello (drums); Introduced by Steve Race. I was prevented from going to The Sage concert, so this was the next best thing. The programme took me right back to childhood. As a little girl who knew no jazz, I remember being enthralled by the catchiness of the tune Take Five. Dave Brubeck has popular appeal for all sorts of people, even little girls of 10, which may explain why some jazz afficionados turn up their noses. They are missing out. The black and white film from 1964 and the young serious-looking audience created quite a worthy atmosphere, but the music was sheer fun. The quartet played a piece composed by Brubeck’s brother Howard, with the usual wonderful piano from Dave. I thought I heard shades of Getting to Know You from The King and I. Was I imagining this? This was followed by The Wright Groove, with lightly brushed drums and a lively bass solo during which Wright retuned a string whilst playing it. Nice one! Then came the classic Take Five, with more piano and less drums than on the Time Out album. Sounds of the Loop, which portrayed the percussive sounds of Chicago, was brilliant. I’ll swear the piano was pounding out street and traffic noises. Then came the drum solo, fast and furious, so that the drumsticks became a visual blur which sounded like killer bees invading the Chicago streets. Steve Race was on hand to ask Brubeck about his composition methods. Brubeck explained that he often thinks up tunes in his head, then tries them out on piano, and he prefers ‘heard music’ to music being written down. What other answer did Race expect from a jazz musician? It works well, as I love Brubeck’s strong tunes with their unusual timings and endless opportunities for improvisation. That’s what attracted me as a little girl, though I couldn’t have put it into words at the time. A good half hour’s television. Ann Alex.