From: millerje@CS.ColoState.EDU (Jeff Miller)
Subject: Brubeck Box Set (small review)
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 21:54:30 GMT
Organization: Colorado State University, Computer Science Department

I had originally intended to write a comprehensive review, but I've been
short on time, so hopefully the following will suffice...

Being a BIG fan of Dave Brubeck, and very dissapointed with what Columbia has
(or hasn't) done with the reissues of his albums on CD's, I figured this box
set has to be the one for me.  Well, overall it's as good as I expected.
Granted, when you have around 50 years of material, some stuff has to be left
off (especially if there's only about 4.5 hrs of material).

One thing that is immediately apparent when you open the box is the superb
design (the photos, etc.)  On the 4 CD's there are pictures of (from memory):
a young Dave, Dave and Paul Desmond, Dave and Louis Armstrong and an old(er)
Dave.  There is also a *fantastic* book included which includes some great
pictures of the classic quartet, notes from Dave on every track in the
collection, and a rather lengthy essay (apparently from interviews with Dave)
on his life, with stories about the classic quartet, Louis Armstrong, Charlie
Mingus, Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan and others.  (LA, CM and GM appear on at
least one track in the collection)

Overall, the sound is much improved from the Columbia CD reissues, but is not
perfect.  In many cases though, Paul's sax sounds as good as I've heard it.
The first disc is recorded in all mono, but the transfer overall is decent.
It features Dave solo, with an octet and with Bill Smith.
The next two discs are comprised mainly of THE quartet, and the sound is as
mentioned above, MUCH better than the Columbia reissues.  The last disc is
later Brubeck with his sons, Gerry Mulligan, Jerry Bergonzi, and Bill Smith
(yes, the same guy).

So what's wrong?  Well, two of my favorite Bru albums would be "Oberlin" and
"Carnegie Hall".  (I dont believe Carnegie is available on CD, although parts
of it appear in a reissue called "Jazz Goes to College" or the like).  In fact,
in the notes, Dave says the Carnegie Hall was one of the highlights of the
quartet.  So why only one track from each of the aforementioned albums? On
"Oberlin", Paul plays better than most people have ever thought he could.
Luckily "Oberlin" is available on a Fantasy two-fer CD.  Also, while some
people would disagree, I would have added a fifth CD for more material off
the above two albums, as well as more of the newest quartet with Bill Smith.
The album ends with "Stardust" (If I remember correctly) as a duet with Dave
and Bill, which is beautiful.  This is a fine quartet [IMHO of course] and is
grossly represented, while the Time Out album [which is great] has 4 of 6 cuts
(If I remember correctly) on the collection.

Well, the verdict?  If you're a fan of Brubeck and haven't bought all his
available CD's yet ;)  buy this one. (and pick up the "Oberlin" disc as well!)
If you're interested in Brubeck, this is a good place to start, and with the
excellent notes, you'll probably learn a thing or two - for example who knew
that Dave could not read any music until just a few years ago?


-- 
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| "Nuke the unborn gay whales!" |  millerje@cs.colostate.edu  |  Jeff Miller  |
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Newsgroups: rec.music.bluenote