Time Out
by The Dave Brubeck Quartet

The music is only part of the package.

"Theoretically it is as if Joe Morello's three beats had ceased to be the basic pulse, and had become triplets in a slow 4-beat blues -- though with Eugene Wright's 1-in-a-bar bass as the constant link between piano and drums. The listener who keeps abreast of the cross-rhythms here can congratulate themself on sharing with the Brubeck Quartet an enlightened rhythmic sense."

That's a quote from the original liner notes, that particular excerpt talking about the tune Kathy's Waltz. But it's the tone--intellectual, technical--that I want to point out. The experience of this album for the original listeners was inseparable from the liner notes, which taught listeners what they should be paying attention to--the time and meter within each song. Each track's metric approach was described, some more precisely than others but all of the descriptions talking about meter, eg for the first track it's "Blue Rondo à la Turk plunges straight into the most jazz-remote time signature, 9/8 - grouped not in the usual form (3-3-3) but in 2-2-2-3." It's inviting the listener to count along and participate in the intellectual side of music, the technical side.

In other words, it's not just saying "trust us, this is very technical, and you'd be impressed if you could understand." It's saying, "here's some technical information that you actually can understand and listen along with." And it promises the reward that you'll be able to "congratulate yourself" for your "enlightened" understanding.

Jazz liner notes were like this, verbose and intellectual, and sometimes they became hits along with the music on the vinyl. Like Kind Of Blue with its notes by Bill Evans, this album's liner notes were a huge part of the crossover appeal. It's no criticism of the music to point out the plain fact that for both albums, take away the liner notes, and they aren't crossover hits, no way. It's non-jazz listeners being instructed by the liner notes how to listen, and feeling clever and "enlightened" when they do so.

To get what this album was understood to be, you really do need to read the original liner notes (they're online) while listening, like 100% of the original listeners did.

I like the way Steve Huey reviewed this album on allmusic.com. "Dave Brubeck's defining masterpiece, Time Out is one of the most rhythmically innovative albums in jazz history, the first to consciously explore time signatures outside of the standard 4/4 beat or 3/4 waltz time. Buoyed by a hit single 'Take Five,' Time Out became an unexpectedly huge success, and still ranks as one of the most popular jazz albums ever."

This is a great album to listen to if your only just starting to explore the brilliance of jazz music as it is very catchy whilst also maintaining a high level of quality. The melodies are amazing as they engage you with their infectious nature but also relax you due to their delicate tones. This is all down to the performances by the ensemble with the sax and bass deserving a special mention. What drives the album for me though is the piano played by Brubeck whose solos are phenomenal. Musically, this record is extremely strong and it flies by when I listen to it. However, side 1 is superior to side 2 as the melodies and performances feel a little bit weaker on the last 4 songs. It is still good but the record could do with maintaining its consistency all the way through. Overall, this might be the best jazz album to start with due to how enjoyable it is and it is a very strong release as well.

From souplipton 06/07/2016 19:32 | #168134 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

1959 was the greatest year in jazz history, and Time Out is one the year's best albums. Dave Brubeck combined cool jazz with odd time signatures to examine one of jazz music's core tenets, and show that jazz does not need to strictly be played in 4/4 or march time. Exploring 3s, 5s, 9s and other uncommon groupings, Brubeck not only showed that jazz was not a one trick pony, he also made one of the coolest jazz albums of all time. The album is not just noted for its experimentation, but for its quality as well. Although its most known for Take Five, Blue Rondo al la Turk and Kathys Waltz are also incredible tracks, while the remaining tracks are good to great. Essential listening for fans of jazz, and a great place to start for those wishing to expand their understanding of music.

From DJFresh-Rock 12/29/2024 03:24 | #306683 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Jazz doesn’t have to be challenging to be interesting. Here, Dave Brubeck and his quartet pull off the feat of filling an entire 40 minutes with superlative and emotive playing, lending a distinctive lilt to everything they touch. Highly recommended. (Edited)