Dave Brubeck Octet

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Label: Fantasy
Year: 1946-1950
Released on LP: Yes
Released on CD: Yes

Tracks

1.The Prisoner’s Song
2. Rondo
3. You Go To My Head
4. Laura
5. Closing Theme
6. I Hear A Rhapsody
7. Serenade’s Suite
8. Schizophrenic Scherzo
9. Playland At The Beach
10. How High The Moon
11. Love Walked In
12. IPCA
13. What Is This Thing Called Love
14. The Way You Look Tonight
15. September In The Rain
16. Prelude
17. Fugue On Bop Themes
18. Let’s Fall In Love

Personnel

Dave Brubeck (piano)
Paul Desmond (alto sax)
Bill Smith (clarinet,baritone sax)
Ron Crotty (bass)
Cal Tjader (drums)
Bob Collins (trombone)
Dick Collins (trumpet)
Dave Van Kriedt (tenor sax)

Notes

1. Tracks 1-18 represent the entire output of the Dave Brubeck Octet.

2. Tracks 1-10 were recorded in California 1946, 1947 and 1948 and were originally released by Fantasy as follows:

7" 33 rpm EP: Fantasy (USA) EP 4019 - "Old Sounds From San Francisco – Volume 1"

7" 33 rpm EP: Fantasy (USA) EP 4020 - "Old Sounds From San Francisco – Volume 2"

10" Long Playing Records:

Fantasy (USA) 3-16 - "Old Sounds From San Francisco"

3. Tracks 11-18 were recorded in California in July 1950 but not released by Fantasy until 1956 as follows:

10" LP -Fantasy 3-3 "The Dave Brubeck Octet: Distinctive Rhythm Instrumentals”.

12" LP including tracks 1-10 - Fantasy (USA) 3239 & 8094 "The Dave Brubeck Octet"


4. Released by Fantasy on CD on Original Jazz Classics label as "The Dave Brubeck Octet".

Reviews

All Music Guide – Review – copyright

Review of all Octet recordings.

From 1946 to 1949, Dave Brubeck was involved in a co-op octet based in San Francisco that was in many ways more innovative than anything he did henceforth, and was also a parallel to the Miles Davis Birth of the Cool sessions. When you listen to this marvelous ensemble, the threads connect between later period 1950s bands of Stan Kenton, Gerry Mulligan, Bill Holman, Manny Albam, Gil Evans, and Bob Brookmeyer -- arrangers and composers whose music was intricate, involved, and evolved like that of this Brubeck band. The difference is that the members were students of 20th century icon Darius Milhaud, and to a lesser extent Roger Sessions. So the music has a quality that is directly related to fugues, rondos, and especially counterpoint, while retaining the cool bop flavor of California. While many of these players had a certain amount of credibility, they gained much more after the group was disbanded for lack of work.

Cal Tjader was the drummer before forming his Latin jazz band and playing the vibraphone exclusively. Alto saxophonist Paul Desmond was just coming into his own, William O. (Bill) Smith played clarinet on this date, and with Brubeck for many years thereafter, and trumpeter Dick Collins was a mainstay in the bands of Woody Herman. It is the arrangements of tenor saxophonist David Van Kriedt that hold great interest. "Love Walked In" sports a clever in and out melody away from the original, "September in the Rain" and "I Hear a Rhapsody" are deceptively subtle, while Van Kriedt's originals "Prelude," "Fugue on Bop Themes," and "Serenade Suite" are respectively soulful, layered with individualism and diffuse.

They display extreme intelligent design within a chamber jazz framework. Smith's no slouch in this department as his reworking of "What Is This Thing Called Love?" is a sneaky 5/4 to 4/4 swing, skating around this famous melody. His out-and-out original bopper "IPCA" makes the band sound larger than it is, while "Schizophrenic Scherzo" features the tart trumpet of Collins and Smith's lively, tuneful clarinet. Oh...Brubeck...he contributes a wonderfully engaging circular underpinned and involved arrangement of "The Way You Look Tonight," the epitome of West Coast cool bop. The pianists "Playland at the Beach" is an urban waltz, his version of "Laura" showcases his Erroll Garner-ish piano, "Rondo" is ultra-dramatic and foreshadows his famous "Blue Rondo à La Turk," while his chiming piano during "How High the Moon" is the highlight of a tune interrupted by announcer Jimmy Lyons.

The most remarkable aspect of this recording is the incredible interplay ever present, pronounced throughout, and utterly delightful. A strong record full of the intent, purpose, and directives of all the bandmembers, and in many ways far ahead of its time, this is a highly recommended recording that all Brubeck and modern jazz fans should re-investigate, embrace, and take to heart.

Michael G Nastros

© Copyright Rovi Corporation



Concord Music Group - Copyright

Dave Brubeck's early reputation was based on recordings for Fantasy with his trio and, soon after, the quartet sides with Paul Desmond. However, the octet he was involved with from 1946 has never been given its proper due.

Desmond, trumpeter Dick Collins, tenor saxophonist Dave Van Kriedt, clarinetist Bill Smith, and Brubeck were heard in solo, but the emphasis is on the writing by Brubeck, Jack Weeks, and, particularly, the fugal inventions of Van Kriedt. Many of the writers involved, including, of course, Brubeck, were students of composer Darius Milhaud at the time.

Some of these pieces were recorded in 1946, three years before the Miles Davis Nonet, and certainly ahead of their time.

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