Private Brubeck Remembers
In this solo piano recital, Brubeck, 83, looks back on his experiences as a young army private in the closing year of the Second World War. It's a journey marked by songs as significant for their titles and unsung lyrics as their melodies. Classics like "Where or When" appear alongside playful period novelties like "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" and "It's a Sin to Tell a Lie," with Brubeck finding unexpected depths in these lightweight themes, touching on the experiences that shaped his generation. His version of "Last Time I Saw Paris" conveys all the complexity and ambiguity of wartime, and he also plays early original compositions--"We Crossed the Rhine" and "Weep No More"--shaped by the same experience. [The limited edition includes an enlightening second CD of Brubeck reminiscing with Walter Cronkite about leading a band at the front.]--Stuart Broomer