Tracks: Blue Rondo A La Turk//Strange Meadow Lark//Three to Get Ready//Kathy's Waltz//Everybody's Jumpin'//Pick Up Sticks
I'm back! Assuming anyone realised I was gone. My excuse? Well, I guess I like the Fifties so much I just never wanted it to end. But, end it must. Doff your slacks and clear-out your bomb shelters, the Fifties are out of time. So here's Time Out.
There are so many strange things about this album. Strangest of all is that it reached number 2 in the charts. Listening to the dizzying, jagged rhythms that open "Blue Rondo A La Turk", it's fair to say that it doesn't seem like the likeliest of pop hits. I mean, look at the cover - it's a piece of thoroughly modern art. The music, meanwhile, consists of a range of carefully studied fusions of contemporary classical music with Eastern traditional music and jazz, most of it in funny time signatures.
The time signatures are, of course, the point of the album (yet another pun - what is with jazz albums and puns?), although the greater bulk of the music is in 4/4 or waltz time, which makes it slightly less impressive. Still, consider - up until around this time, damned near every single jazz tune had been in 4/4 or waltz time. The most adventurous time signature we've had till now was double waltz on Kind of Blue. "Blue Rondo A La Turk" opens in 9/8 and sounds like a thunderstorm in a glass factory. "Take Five" is in 5/4 (yet somehow managed to be a top ten single). The reason for this is that apparently the Quartet went on a military tour of the Middle East, where they were exposed to Levantine dance rhythms. They thought to themselves "Hey, if the Turks can swing to this then why can't we", and of course the rest is history.
People were angry with Dave Brubeck about this. They told him he'd gone to far in mucking about with the 4/4 foundations of jazz. And then they went and said that a lot of the music on this album wasn't even jazz to begin with. And to be fair, a lot of the music here is not always especially jazzy - but if it's not jazz, then we'd have to invent a new category of music for it, so let's just call a spade a spade and head for the club. Really, Dave Brubeck's piano sounds like a Picasso painting more than anything (he owes a debt to Monk - that much is obvious). I really hate these wags who go about trying to declare something "jazz" or "not jazz". Most of the time they're just fusty old jerks who want to sit alone at home doing possibly illegal things to their Duke Ellington collections. Things evolve! Everything evolves! It's like those punk rock guys who think that keyboards are the tool of the devil and it's wrong of you to ever use more than four chords in a song. This album was integral in opening jazz up to a whole host of "Bach to Jazz" and treacly semi-classical albums. To my mind, jazz is just putting the blues on classical or the classical in blues, and if that's not good enough for you then go back to Dixie and have a lot of fun with your marching bands.
In the spirit of this album's spirit, I've decided to break with convention myself and present my notes for each of the individual tracks:
Blue Rondo A La Turk – Truly amazing composition that regrettably lapses into what is actually a pretty solid bit of bop. I say “regrettably” because, firstly, it doesn’t really fit the strange nature of the rest of the piece. This is nightclub jazz that suddenly appears out of nowhere halfway through an elaborate bit of dazzling minimalism-meets-jagged, see-sawing Eastern folk. Still, the fact that they tie such disparate elements is what ultimately makes this song so impressive – this is basically a full-on classical suite in the jazz idiom.
Strange Meadow Lark – A very pretty piece. Opens with an pretty, angular extended solo piano introduction in a semi-classical mode . There is very little, if any, blues on the intro. It’s tied to the blues in the same way one of the Beatles’ chamber-pop tunes is. This is a large part of what got Brubeck dismissed by some folks – he wasn’t bluesy or traditional enough. The main body of the song is much more “jazz” and “blues”, and sounds oddly like “I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plans”. The sound of the clarinet does a lot to make this album, but then the harmonic innovations are also quite impressive. Jazz should evolve, or it’ll become a museum piece. The solo piano outro is also gorgeous. The solo piano here really makes this piece, and I wish they’d focused more on that than on a pleasant but ultimately inconsequential jam.
Take Five – This song still sounds quite like nothing else. Like Brubeck and Co inventing Krautrock and funk ten years early. That jerky little piano riff is utterly captivating, and the drumming is truly exceptional. The drum solo taken here is astonishing, like cannon fire. My favourite quote regarding this album is clarinettist Paul Desmond’s remark that “Take Five” wasn’t written to be a pop hit, it was written to be a drum solo for Joe Morello. The funny thing is, however, that Brubeck and Co are at their best performing things that soundly like fully-composed songs. But the thing that really sells this is the supremely melodic clarinet playing. Who doesn’t know that melody? It’s astonishing. One of the finest melody lines ever produced and single-handedly responsible for the mega-selling status of what is actually a pretty weird album, when you think about it. This song doesn’t sound like music created by humans.
Three to Get Ready – This has a lovely little rising piano melody that can only be called “charming”.
Kathy’s Waltz – Lovely little clarinet bit here, swinging around like a circus melody and utterly gorgeous. There’s a piano transition that sounds exactly like “All My Loving” by the Beatles. Utterly gorgeous crashing solo piano closer that brings back the “All My Loving” melody but buries it under lots of water chords.
Everybody’s Jumpin’ – this is one of those instrumental songs where you can actually hear the clarinet and piano cry “Everybody’s Jumpin!”. It doesn’t need words. And then Brubeck goes off on these utterly astonishing, chiming piano chords that just repeat and repeat like a jack hammer, faster than I’d thought possible. Amazing.
Pick Up Sticks – Most straightforward here. Nice cymbal clatter. Plenty of jaunty piano comping. Lovely clarinet solo. Very “Kind of Blue”. Certainly the most succesful bit of straight-up jazz on display. Brubeck’s trademark jerky piano is all over the place with some love chords doing utterly wonderful, clattering things. This is Brubeck’s chance to shine and he does some astonishing things with chords. And then Morello comes in to close the track out on beats that sound like wood being chopped.
And there you have it. Is this a great album? It's a pretty good one. Unfortunately the experimentation which makes it so unique and compelling also undercuts the strengths of some of the songs In the end, however, this is a remarkable piece of work - it's not just "Take Five" with a few extra tracks tacked on, no sir it isn't. It's not the best jazz album we've had so far, either, though it's certainly interesting and unique, and it certainly managed to do its job in breaking new ground as to what you could get away with in jazz while still being popular.So basically I guess the lesson we learned today is that people will let anything slide if you've got a way with melody.
8.5/10
Download: The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Blue Rondo A La Turk MP3
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