Dave Brubeck the first jazz musician to be featured in the cover of Time magazine after Louis Armstrong was born December 6, 1920 in Concord, California. Early in 1954, he was a typical representative of the new generation of jazz musicians in several respects. He was literate and articulate, thoroughly grounded in all fields of music and every branch of jazz. As for the recordings at hand, David admitted that the quartet sounds wonderful. In fact, said Dave, I think that On the Alamo is the greatest thing I've put on record so far.
Paul Desmond once said about him: When Dave is playing at his best, its a profoundly moving thing to experience, emotionally, and intellectually. Its completely free, live improvisation in which you can find all the qualities about music the vigor and force of simple jazz, the harmonic complexities of Bartok and Milhaud, the form of Bach and, at times, the lyric romanticism of Rachmaninoff.
Tracklist
Total time: 74:32 min.
01. On The Alamo (Jones-Kahn) 10:45
02. Don't Worry 'Bout Me (Bloom-Koehler) 6:50
03. Gone With The Wind (Magison-Wrubel) 8:10
04. Back Bay Blues (Brubeck-Desmond) 6:32
05. Crazy Chris (Brubeck-Desmond) 6:45
06. Here Lies Love (Robin-Rainger) 5:55
07. When You're Smiling (Fisher-Goodwin-Shay) 9:12
08. Give a Little Whistle / Oh Lady Be Good (Harline-Washington / George Gershwin) 6:52 *
09. You Go to My Head (Gillespie-Coots) 7:50 *
10. Over the Rainbow (Arlen-Harburg) 4:59 *
Album details
(*) Bonus Tracks
Personnel on #1-2:
Dave Brubeck (p), Paul Desmond (as), Ron Crotty (b), John Dodge (d).
Recorded at Storyville club, Boston, January 18 & 24, 1954
Personnel on #3-5:
Dave Brubeck (p), Paul Desmond (as), Bob Bates (b), John Dodge (d).
Recorded at Storyville club, Boston, March 30, 1954
Personnel on #6-7:
Dave Brubeck (p), Paul Desmond (as), Bob Bates (b), John Dodge (d).
Recorded at Storyville club, Boston, July 22, 1954
Personnel on #3-5:
Dave Brubeck (p), Paul Desmond (as), Lloyd Davis (d).
Recorded at Storyville club, Boston, October 12, 1952
Photos © Fresh Sound Archives
Produced for CD release by Jordi Pujol
Mono · Digitally Remastered
Blue Moon Producciones Discograficas S.L.
