15 Brain-Twisting Concept Albums That Are Endlessly Rewarding
6. Time Out The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Jazz enjoyed a banner year in 1959. Among others, the year saw the release of Miles Daviss Kind of Blue, John Coltranes Giant Steps and Ornette Colemans The Shape of Jazz to Come. It also saw the release of the Dave Brubeck Quartets Time Out, a quieter album with a simple, yet highly innovative, concept: make use of non-standard time signatures. The result was a record that not only challenged jazzs notion of time, but stood the test of time for over 50 years. From the very beginning, you know youre in for something special. The opening Blue Rondo a la Turk is a beautiful, piano-driven piece in 9/8, with a classical, forceful delivery and an unusual rhythm inspired by Turkish street musicians. Take Five is one of the groups biggest singles, planting a 5/4 melody in the heads of millions of Americans so seamlessly they didnt even know they were listening to an experiment. Brubeck was already a well-known name in jazz, and he would continue his experimentation in odd time signatures as his career went on, even releasing a sequel, Time Further Out. But its on this ambitious, adventurous recording that an artist fully emerges. Each song is a journey, a conscious exploration of the new, the uncharted, and the cerebral which, from 1959 on, would pretty much be the sole mission of jazz performers.
Kyle Schmidlin is a writer and musician living in Austin, TX. He manages the news blog at thirdrailnews.wordpress.com. Follow him at facebook.com/kyleschmidlin or twitter.com/kyleschmidlin1.
