It's been quite a while since I last listened to the 1959 album Time Out so in a sense I'm almost hearing it for the first time which isn't a bad thing. Possibly later I'll dig out the original for comparision's sake as I'm not a great fan of alternative takes but, in the meantime, this will do nicely thank you very much.
Sixty-one years on it's difficult to credit how revolutionary Time Out was back then. Many of the old-stagers considered it absurd, even criminal - 5/4? never known such nonsense! And, with the exception of Steve Race, most of the jazz writers held that view - how they've changed their tune over the years just as musicians too have accepted the use of different time signatures in jazz.
Desmond had the most beautiful tone on alto. Maybe he didn't have the bite of Parker - the sound that could turn water into whisky - but, like Konitz and Pepper he found his own direction which, unlike the other two, never changed. Brubeck could at times be heavy-handed but here he matches Desmond for lyricism particularly on Strange Meadowlark. In Wright and Morello Brubeck had one of the great rhythm sections. I remember a drummer friend of mine who, after getting married one Saturday morning, postponed going on his honeymoon so he could attend a Joe Morello drum clinic in the afternoon - the marriage didn't last. That's the high esteem Morello was held in by his fellow stickmen.
If you haven't got the original - or even if you have - these alternative takes are well worth having, As an added bonus there's a few minutes of banter between the musicians as Morello tries to nail the tempo. even the greats are human!
Lance
Blue Rondo à la Turk; Strange Meadowlark; Take Five; Three to Get Ready; Cathy's Waltz; I'm in a Dancing Mood; Watusi Jam; Band Banter.
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