Dave Brubeck- Greatest Hits

This is the "Best Of" album from one of the fathers of "cool jazz". 

There are people far better qualified to review Dave Brubeck's work, but I'll have a crack anyway! Take 5 was used in an ad for Sony headphones many years ago. Without knowing what it was, I was inspired to find a CD of this chilled yet uplifting song. It was quite a surprise to find out the song was over 40 years old! Take 5 can be summed up as timeless classic, somehow it is eternally modern and fresh.

However, time has not been so kind to the rest of this compilation- deep down there was an uncomfortable suspicion that it is just daggy grandpa music these days. Most of the things that placed this album in a popular culture context have long been forgotten in modern society. For example, the "remix" of Camptown Races would today exist as a  dubstep version of something like Run to Paradise! And waltzes rarely feature in pop culture these days, so the unique interpretation of It's a Raggy Waltz loses its impact. It took a few listens of the CD to get into the mood and appreciate that is was cutting edge stuff back in the day.

The piano and sax work is wonderful. Aside from a few solos, the bass and drums are fighting for the scraps and often indistinguishable. This "vocal heavy" approach takes a lot of "fullness" out of the sound. Headphone listeners beware- gratuitous use of stereo means the drums are completely in one ear and the piano completely in the other.

For most of the album, I'm not sure whether it has taken a few listens to get into it, or I have just convinced myself that I like it. That's not to diss the fine songs on this CD, it's just that this modern life is very different to the context originally surrounding the songs.

Favourite songs

Take 5, Take 5, Take 5...
Ok then, also I'm in a Dancing Mood, The Duke, Bossa Nova U.S.A, Unsquare Dance, Blue Rondo a la Turk

Would I buy it again?

Yes, for Take 5 alone. But everything else is possibly irrelevant these days.