Track Listing

1. Nomad
2. Brandenburg Gate
3. Golden Horn
4. Thank You (Dziekuje)
5. Marble Arch
6. Calcutta Blues

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8206 in Music
• Released on: 2008-04-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Album Details
Japanese Only 20Bit Mastered Release.

Customer Reviews

Has to be one of Dave's best original albums...has to be!
If Brubeck made any whole albums back in his heyday that hold up better than this one, I haven't heard them. I have owned this one for a few years now, and liking has turned to loving it. Everything is a Quartet original composition, recorded after they returned from a long tour of England and the Middle East and even, can you believe it here in 2002, Afghanistan. All four musicians get good solo time on this CD, but drummer Joe Morello really shines. This came out on record just before his smash hit "Take Five" and it complements the latter collection excellently. If you are interested in Dave Brubeck, don't skip this one. It is under 40 minutes, and many people are reluctant to buy CD's that don't come closer to using up the whole 70-plus minutes available. I used to be that way too, until I found I owned too many 60-minute CD's with 20 minutes of tedium in them. Just buy this darn great jazz album, and play it twice every time instead of once, and you'll be hearing 80 minutes of fascinating stuff!

If you like "Time Out", you'll go for this too
Most people who listen to this album have already heard "Time Out" and are quite familiar with the Quartet's innovations with 5/4, 6/4 and 9/8 time. But many may not know how those ideas may have come from the previous year (1958), when Dave, Paul, Joe and Joe toured Europe and (South) Asia. If you like "Time Out", this music will sound right at home.

While every track is excellent, "Brandenburg Gate" with its circle-of-fifths modulations is lovely, as is its Polish-inspired companion piece "Thank You". For those who like a driving rhythm, "Nomad" will suffice quite nicely, while "The Golden Horn"'s speed puts you in mind of the later "Blue Rondo" (from Time Out). "Marble Arch" swings easy, while "Calcutta Blues" is simply beyond description. It must be heard - and felt.

Another bonus with the CD are new liner notes written by the artist in 1991's "Revisit with Dave." For the Brubeck enthusiast, this disk MUST be part of your collection, while for the jazz lover, here is yet another example of how an American-originated art form travels - and translates - quite nicely into other settings.

Best of Brubecks Compositions
I have a hard time not liking everything DBQ ever did. But this album stands out.

DBQ was at home doing both standards and Dave's orginal and often unusual compositions. This album is all original material, and what's particualryl wonderful is that every song is so different. From the Bach-like structure of "Brandenberg Gate," to the wailing, wild, and way out (and totally un-Desmond-like)part-boogie-woogie, part-avante-garde "Golden Horn", and back to the Chopin-inspired "Thank You," every tune on this album tells a story.

It took a while for this one to grow on me, because of its variety and strangeness. I couldn't live with ut it now.