Dave Brubeck – 50 Years of Dave Brubeck at the Monterey Jazz Festival, 1958-2007 – MJF Records MJFR 30680-70:24 ****1/2 [Distr. by Concord Records]:
(Dave Brubeck, piano with Paul Desmond, alto sax; Gerry Mulligan, baritone sax;
and other members of prior quartets over the last 50 years)
Dave Brubeck has had a history with the Monterey Jazz Festival dating back to the inception of the Festival. Long a West Coast favorite having been raised in California’s Central Valley, and largely beginning his career in the Bay Area, his inclusion in the Monterey Jazz Festival’s retrospective series is the most natural choice the label could have made.
By playing more MJF Festivals than any other artist, Brubeck’s retrospective has the advantage of covering a mind-boggling half-century. Surprisingly, only three tracks have been included with the incomparable Paul Desmond, the one musician with whom Brubeck is most associated. The most famous of Dave’s rhythm sections, bass player Jack Six and drummer Alan Dawson, are featured on two tracks from 1971, but without Desmond. Having Gerry Mulligan subbing for Desmond slightly eases the questionable choice of not having more tracks of Brubeck’s most famous companion – but when you are covering 50 years and Desmond died at a rather young age, it is somewhat understandable.
But enough nitpicking. Desmond’s “dry martini” unique alto tone is given room to really stretch out on the opening Two Point Contention from the Festival’s inaugural year. Brubeck’s uses of counterpoint and tempo shifts were fairly unique at the time. Nearly 30 years later in 1985, on Tritonis, time signatures are again revisited this time with Bobby Militello on flute playing off Brubeck as Desmond did decades earlier.
Going back to 1962, Desmond is featured on Someday My Prince Will Come, and Wright’s bass is mixed well to give backbone to this classic composition. The most famous Brubeck staple of all (dare I say the most famous jazz composition of all to the common man), Take Five, is given a short 5:40 reading and disappointingly a rather poor mixing and remastering. It sounds like it was recorded in a garage. It would be a VERY rare quartet performance over the last 50 years when Brubeck would fail to play Take Five. The audience simply would leave angry to not have heard the familiar chords. It’s opening always brings a rousing ovation.
1971’s quartet with Mulligan provides a Middle Eastern vibe with Sermon on the Mount. Dave’s wife, Iola, co-wrote this track. The companion ’71 piece, Jumping Bean, is more straight ahead and Mulligan’s playing is such a pleasure to experience. Appropriately, the next number on this CD is Brubeck’s deeply moving requiem to Mulligan. Gerry died in 1996, and in 1998 Brubeck and bassist Stan Poplin, mourn Geru’s passing in a too-short 2:14 duo paean.
The later years of Brubeck’s still ongoing career are celebrated in Gershwin’s I Got Rhythm (2002) with Bobby Militello swinging hard on alto; and last year’s Golden MJF Anniversary playing of Margie, that Dave indicates in the CD liner notes, was included because it “swung so hard.”
With such a prodigious output of performances in Brubeck’s home away from home, Monterey, jazz fans can argue for another 50 years whether the proper highlights of a life in jazz were included on this single CD. Since Dave apparently has handpicked the ten tracks, it’s tough to argue with the master on his choices, though I still take issue with the 1966 issue of Take Five.
TrackList: Two Part Contention, Someday My Prince Will Come, Take Five, Sermon on the Mount, Jumping Bean, Tritonis, Goodbye Old Friend, I Got Rhythm, Sleep, Margie
– Jeff Krow
