The Dave Brubeck Quartet (1953) – Jazz at Oberlin – Fantasy Original Jazz Classics Remasters mono OJC-31991-02, 38:40 (3/30/10) [Distr. by Concord Music] *****:
(Dave Brubeck, piano; Paul Desmond, alto sax; Ron Crotty, bass; Lloyd Davis, drums)
This is one of the classic early Brubeck Quartet albums. It was the first in a series that came out of Dave’s idea that they should cultivate the college crowd by appearing in small campus halls, chapels, cafeterias – anywhere they could fit The idea paid off by creating a loyal audience and a fine series of live recordings. The conservatory-trained Oberlin audience in the school’s chapel was perfect for the quartet’s literate and witty improvisations. I myself recall sitting in the front row at our university’s student union building and identifying with fellow students in the Music Department the classical quotes which both Dave and Paul threw into their improvisations.
We reviewed the Fantasy mono SACD reissue of this album some years ago and it’s still available, but remastering engineer Joe Tarantino did a 24-bit restoration especially for this new Concord Music project reissuing many of the OJC series on standard CDs. I did a careful comparison, and must honestly admit I couldn’t hear any appreciable difference between the SACD and this new CD reissue, so save yourself $5 – especially if you don’t even have an SACD player – and pick up the CD version. The audience applause is a great fidelity test, and to my ears it’s exactly the same on both formats.
– John Henry
