Search - Dave Brubeck :: Dave Brubeck Octet

The listener has to forgive a few things about this undeniably brilliant collection of Dave Brubeck's first big ensemble. First: the liner notes' pretentions. Brubeck announces there that between 1946, when some of these tunes were recorded, and 1956, when the tapes were first "reissued" on LP, "very few released recordings" have "more musical importance" than the octet. Second: the nearly seven minutes of "How High the Moon" narrated to show how jazz was formed, as the band plays in short demonstrative segments. Third: the audio vérité sound, which even Brubeck thought questionable in 1956. Hearing this dynamic set, though, makes forgiveness easy. The arrangements show a wild abundance of color and orchestral finesse (many of the group's members were, like Brubeck, students of Darius Milhaud). You get quick-clip swingers like "The Way You Looked Tonight" and the string of chamber-esque horn studies that includes "Schizophrenic Scherzo" and more. You also get to hear early Paul Desmond and William O. Smith bouncing ideas off each other and drummer Cal Tjader. And it's all a delight, especially with the magnanimity of "forgiving" Brubeck. --Andrew Bartlett