Dave Brubeck Octet

Amazon.com essential recording
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

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Average customer rating: Birth of the Cool vs the Dave Brubeck Octet Chamber Jazz History Lesson

The Dave Brubeck Octet Dave Brubeck Octet Manufacturer: Ojc ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Cool Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Similar Items: Dave Brubeck at Storyville 1954 The Dave Brubeck Quartet at Carnegie Hall Jazz at the College of the Pacific 2 West Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz in California, 1945-1960 Jazz at Oberlin ASIN: B000000Y60 Release Date: 1991-07-01

Tracks:

1. The Way You Look Tonight
2. Love Walked In
3. What Is This Thing Called Love
4. September In The Rain
5. Prelude
6. Fugue On Bop Themes
7. Let's Fall In Love
8. IPCA
9. How High The Moon
10. Serenade Suite
11. Playland-At-The-Beach
12. Prisoner's Song
13. Schzophrenic Scherzo
14. Rondo
15. I Hear A Rhapsody
16. You Go To My Head
17. Laura
18. Closing Theme

Amazon.com essential recording

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

Customer Reviews:

Birth of the Cool vs the Dave Brubeck Octet.......2006-06-05

Much of this cd isn't jazz and is obviously written under the influence of the modernist "serious" music of the nineteen forties. I would use "Schizophrenic Scherzo", "Rondo", "Prisoner's Song" and "Playland at the Beach" as examples of this.
Miles Davis and Dave Brubeck weren't the only jazz and classical people doing this at this time period (the late 1940s and early 1950s). Jazz musician Charles Mingus on Debut records did equally serious classically oriented work. You can also argue that Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker were using chords and notes that were only associated with classical musicians before the mid nineteen forties. Igor Stravinsky also did classically oriented work for the Woody Herman orchestra in the mid 1940s. Before that even, we find that Charles Ives was influenced by jazz in his classical work in the early twentieth century.
About a "racial agenda" that another poster has pointed to: Miles Davis had white musicians and arrangers (Gerry Mulligan, Gil Evans in the "Birth of the Cool" and Bill Evans in "Kind of Blue" later on). It wasn't just Miles Davis and to my knowledge he never said it was. So, all these people, white and black, influenced each other in combining classical music with jazz. I never take the title "The Birth of the Cool" as a literal statement that Miles Davis made, and instead just see it as a marketing agenda that Capitol Records used when they reissued those sessions in the seventies. Maybe Charles Ives from 1917 could be reissued as the "Birth of the Cool".

Chamber Jazz History Lesson.......2000-12-18

I didn't care for this disc but I'm not panning it altogether because the playing is first rate and the ideas are innovative and ahead of their time. I just don't care for the music - it's more a matter of personal taste. These 18 tracks, recorded in 1946 by the Dave Brubeck Octet, feature a good deal of experimental (for the period) "chamber jazz" based on some standards as well as original compositions. On one track, an announcer actually narrates as the group goes through a series of variations on How High The Moon, from early jazz form to bop. Interesting stuff, intellectually stimulating but not very fun to listen to. I'm just a traditionalist...it's gotta swing! Recommended for serious students of jazz and history buffs only. If you're looking for some swinging jazz octet, check out Dave Pell or Don Fagerquist.

Average customer rating:

The Complete Octet Sessions Dave Brubeck Manufacturer: Import ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Cool Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Jazz | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B0000C83ZM Release Date: 2004-04-05

Tracks:

1. How High the Moon
2. I Hear a Rhapsody
3. Laura
4. Playland at the Beach
5. Serenade Suite
6. Prisoner's Song
7. Rondo
8. Schizophrenic Scherzo
9. Closing Theme
10. You Go to My Head
11. Love Walked In
12. Ipca
13. Way You Look Tonight
14. What Is This Thing Called Love?
15. September in the Rain
16. Prelude
17. Fugue on Bop Themes
18. Let's Fall in Love

Album Description

This fascinating group performs highly original musical throughout this CD reissue. Predating the world famous quartet, the octet blended 20th century classical music with bebop to pioneer a unique brand of experimental third stream. Apart from Brubeck & Paul Desmond, the octet also featured such notable sidemen as trumpeter Dick Collins, clarinet & baritone sax player Bill Smith, tenor saxophonist Dave Van Kreidt & drum phenomenon Cal Tjader, among others. 20 bit remastered. Definitive. 2003.

Average customer rating:

The Complete Octet Sessions Dave Brubeck Manufacturer: Definitive Spain ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Cool Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Jazz | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B0000V46B8 Release Date: 2003-11-25

Tracks:

1. How High the Moon
2. I Hear a Rhapsody
3. Laura
4. Playland at the Beach
5. Serenade Suite
6. Prisoner's Song
7. Rondo
8. Schizophrenic Scherzo
9. Closing Theme
10. You Go to My Head
11. Love Walked In
12. Ipca
13. Way You Look Tonight
14. What Is This Thing Called Love?
15. September in the Rain
16. Prelude
17. Fugue on Bop Themes
18. Let's Fall in Love

Average customer rating:

I Hear a Rhapsody Dave Octet-Trio Quartet Brubeck Manufacturer: Past Perfect ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Jazz | Styles | Music ASIN: B00006GE4K Release Date: 2002-12-04

Average customer rating:

The Complete Octet Sessions Dave Brubeck Manufacturer: Import [Generic] ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Cool Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Jazz | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B0000CDLAM Release Date: 2003-09-16

Tracks:

1. How High the Moon
2. I Hear a Rhapsody
3. Laura
4. Playland at the Beach
5. Serenade Suite
6. Prisoner's Song
7. Rondo
8. Schizophrenic Scherzo
9. Closing Theme
10. You Go to My Head
11. Love Walked In
12. Ipca
13. Way You Look Tonight
14. What Is This Thing Called Love?
15. September in the Rain
16. Prelude
17. Fugue on Bop Themes
18. Let's Fall in Love

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