Creative Process II

Among Dave Brubeck’s personal audio recordings are about two dozen takes of “Take Five,” which preceded the full-length version on Time Out and the shorter single release version. This chapter discusses first the familiar versions from July 1959, and then considers how the Quartet’s efforts at the end of June paved the way for those iconic recordings. A surprising discovery from the original session recordings of “Kathy’s Waltz” and “Strange Meadow Lark” is that both cuts were spliced from supplemental takes. The recording history of “Everybody’s Jumpin’ ” includes the unexpected fact that a portion of the tune originated in 1950, nine years before the Time Out sessions. The chapter also examines the original recordings of “Three to Get Ready” and “Blue Rondo à la Turk,” as well as two tracks that shed light on the origins of “Pick Up Sticks.”

Onto the World Stage

This chapter concerns the internationalization of the Dave Brubeck Quartet. After several years of preliminary discussions, in 1958 the group finally traveled abroad for the first time, on a three-month trip, largely under the auspices of the US State Department. By this time, the Quartet’s personnel finally reached a steady state, after a series of different bass players and drummers. The “classic” Quartet was the group of musicians who recorded Time Out the next year. Around the same time, Brubeck became increasingly involved with issues of civil rights. The Quartet also made history in the late 1950s by performing jazz in concert halls and on college campuses. Finally, Dave and Iola Brubeck devoted themselves tirelessly to the creation and promotion of The Real Ambassadors, a musical that they hoped would be produced on Broadway.

Metrical Experimentation

A fundamental characteristic of Dave Brubeck’s Time Out album is that it eschews common meter, which had long formed the temporal basis for jazz. This chapter takes stock of this central aspect of Time Out. A judicious appraisal of Brubeck’s work with unusual meters and rhythms must be informed by several considerations. First, by 1959 Brubeck had been interested in metrical experimentation for more than two decades. Second, Brubeck’s fascination with the temporal aspects of jazz continued in four additional albums during the 1960s. Finally, Brubeck’s enduring legacy rests on his unique ability to pursue this progressive musical agenda while simultaneously achieving broad popular appeal.

Recorded Legacy

Once the seven cuts of Time Out had been committed to vinyl, there began a long period in which the Quartet revisited and reinterpreted this repertoire. The “classic” Quartet and its successors recorded many new versions of most of the tunes on Time Out. This chapter first examines a few of Brubeck’s most significant recordings of “Blue Rondo à la Turk,” “Strange Meadow Lark,” “Take Five,” “Three to Get Ready,” and “Kathy’s Waltz” in the thirty-five years after they originally appeared. The latter part of the chapter considers several cover versions of these tunes, which entail radical transformation of Brubeck’s original ideas. These include Anthony Braxton’s rendition of “Three to Get Ready” and Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s “Rondo.”

Watershed

1959 was a watershed for the Dave Brubeck Quartet. Not only was it the year of Brubeck’s most famous creative project, Time Out, but it also marked the midpoint of the “classic” Quartet with Paul Desmond, which was formed in 1951 and disbanded in 1967. This chapter discloses the specific factors involved in the production of Time Out. These include early concert performances of the repertoire, the recording sessions, and decisions concerning the album’s title, cover art, and liner notes. The other trajectory followed here concerns several important matters that were uppermost in Brubeck’s life and career at that time. Chief among them were an enormous amount of domestic and international travel, a high-profile stand against racism and segregation in the South, an all-out effort to finish his musical and see it produced on Broadway, and a series of performances with the New York Philharmonic in Carnegie Hall.

Time and Brubeck Time

This chapter sketches some of the most important factors that led to the formation of the Dave Brubeck Quartet and its rise to fame in the 1950s. Brubeck’s interest in polyrhythms is traced back to his formative years in the 1930s and 1940s, including his work with two predecessors of the Quartet, the Dave Brubeck Octet and the Dave Brubeck Trio. After its formation in 1951, the Dave Brubeck Quartet achieved popular acclaim and signed a multiyear contract with Columbia Records in 1954. Shortly thereafter, Brubeck appeared on the cover of Time magazine. Around the same time, he recorded his first studio album for Columbia, Brubeck Time, whose title was purely a promotional tactic. The experimental meter signatures of Time Out were still five years in the future.

Time Marches On

This chapter first picks up and develops three strands in Dave Brubeck’s biography, which were introduced in the opening chapters of the book: the Quartet’s work with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, Brubeck’s involvement in issues of civil rights, and Dave and Iola Brubeck’s efforts to bring The Real Ambassadors to fruition. The balance of the chapter considers the early critical reception of Time Out, sketches the outlines of its four sequels (Time Further Out, Countdown: Time in Outer Space, Time Changes, and Time In), and examines the circumstances surrounding the dissolution of the Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1967.

Cross-Genre Synthesis

The story of Time Out involves the surprising juxtaposition of seemingly disparate elements and an artistic vision that encompasses musical cultures from around the world. The present chapter unfolds three case studies that illustrate Dave Brubeck’s liberal attitude toward many different kinds of music and his desire to invite their influence into his work as a composer and an improviser. It also demonstrates Brubeck’s skill in bringing together aspects of classical and world music with jazz, to produce a coherent artistic statement. First, the three strands of “Blue Rondo à la Turk” (world music, classical, blues) are examined individually. The chapter then proceeds to discussion of the origins of “Watusi Drums” in a field recording of African drumming, and its transformation into “Pick Up Sticks.” The last vignette considers Brubeck’s quotation from Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony in a version of “Take Five” that was recorded live in Moscow in 1987.

Music and Lyrics

Although Time Out is a purely instrumental album, several of its cuts either originated as songs or later were supplied with words. Two singers—Claude Nougaro in the 1960s and Al Jarreau in the 1970s and 1980s—rose to fame largely on the basis of their vocal renditions of tunes from Time Out. This chapter examines the interplay between music and lyrics in the origins and history of these numbers. It begins with examination of the interdependence of “Everybody’s Jumpin’ ” and “Everybody’s Comin’ ” (the latter a song from The Real Ambassadors). The vocal versions of “Strange Meadow Lark” and “Take Five,” with lyrics by Dave and Iola Brubeck, and their recordings by Carmen McRae, are considered next. The chapter concludes with discussion of Nougaro’s “À bout de souffle” and “Le jazz et la java,” and Jarreau’s “(Round, Round, Round) Blue Rondo à la Turk” and “Take Five.”

Creative Process I

This chapter provides thumbnail sketches of each composition on Time Out, informed by manuscript sources. It also includes consideration of the disposition of solos, as well as discussion of the individual quartet members’ approaches to improvisation. In addition to its formal design and rhythmic profile, the architectural features of “Blue Rondo à la Turk” include its motivic content, palette of chord types, and tonal blueprint. “Everybody’s Jumpin’ ” also is an elegantly constructed composition. “Three to Get Ready” and “Kathy’s Waltz” belong together by virtue of their position side by side and because they both involve metrical experimentation with groups of three and four beats. “Strange Meadow Lark” is the longest and most accessible cut, but it is the only number on Time Out that is not a time experiment. Its four pages of pencil sketches provide a glimpse into Brubeck’s creative process. “Take Five” and “Pick Up Sticks” are examined as well.