The Dave Brubeck Quintet - Time Out

The Dave Brubeck Quintet: Time Out

Album #18 - December 1959

Episode date - February 7, 2024

The Top 500 of The Top 40
    0:00
    0:00

    It’s hard to imagine how two artists as disparate as Ornette Coleman and Dave Brubeck (or more particularly, his saxist Paul Desmond) coexisted. Their approach to jazz was so intrinsically different that they stood worlds apart.

    Coleman’s harmolodic theories gave most listeners whiplash, while Brubeck’s band played pleasant, straightforward melodies. Coleman took a lot of heat for disrupting the accepted norm, but Brubeck’s band retained their California cool, with a twist. He and Desmond wrote songs that felt magically different somehow by introducing audiences to odd time signatures that were both playful and mildly challenging.

    This approach piqued the public’s curiosity and “Time Out” became one of the very first examples of a ‘hit’ jazz single and album, due mostly to the appeal of Desmond’s 5/4 title track. The odd meter gave the song a loping motion that seemed to bounce due to the missing (or added) beat. Other tracks, particularly “Blue Rondo a la Turk” and “Three to Get Ready” also played with time in unique ways, and it surprised the entire jazz world when “Time Out” became the first jazz record to go platinum, selling over one million copies. Naturally, critics wrote negatively of Brubeck while swooning over Coleman, but guess which of the two was featured on the cover of Time magazine? Immense popularity does not connote greatness, but the album’s ability to retain its appeal for six decades probably does.

    Featured Tracks:

    Blue Rondo à la Turk

    Strange Meadow Lark

    Take Five

    Three to Get Ready

    Kathy's Waltz

    Everybody's Jumpin'

    Pick Up Sticks

    December 1959 -  Billboard Charted #2

     

    Related Shows

    Little Feat: The Last Record Album

    Little Feat: The Last Record Album

    Album # 258 - November 1975

      0:00
      0:00
      Neil Young and Crazy Horse: Zuma

      Neil Young and Crazy Horse: Zuma

      Album #257 - November 1975

        0:00
        0:00
        The Hissing of Summer Lawns - Joni Mitchell

        Joni Mitchell: The Hissing of Summer Lawns

        Album #256 - November 1975

          0:00
          0:00
           Queen: A Night at the Opera

          Queen: A Night at the Opera

          Album #255 - November 1975

            0:00
            0:00
            Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here

            Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here

            Album #254 - September 1975

              0:00
              0:00
              Al Green Is Love

              Al Green: Al Green Is Love

              Album #253 - August 1975

                0:00
                0:00
                Bruce Springstein: Born to Run

                Bruce Springstein: Born to Run

                Album #252 - August 1975

                  0:00
                  0:00
                  Fleetwood Mac

                  Fleetwood Mac: Fleetwood Mac

                  Album #251 - July 1975

                    0:00
                    0:00
                    Neil Young: Tonight's The Night

                    Neil Young: Tonight's The Night

                    Album #250 - June 1975

                      0:00
                      0:00
                      Stephen Stills: Stills

                      Stephen Stills: Stills

                      Album #249 - June 1975

                        0:00
                        0:00
                        Bob Dylan and The Band: The Basement Tapes

                        Bob Dylan and The Band: The Basement Tapes - Part 2

                        Album #248 - June 1975

                          0:00
                          0:00
                          Bob Dylan and The Band: The Basement Tapes

                          Bob Dylan and The Band: The Basement Tapes - Part 1

                          Album #248 - June 1975

                            0:00
                            0:00