Time Out is a 1959 album (originally issued as CS 8192) by The Dave Brubeck Quartet, based upon the use of time signatures that were unusual for jazz (mainly waltz or double-waltz time, but also 9/8, and most famously 5/4). The style is a subtle blend of cool and West Coast jazz.[2][3]
Although the album was intended as an experiment (Columbia president Goddard Lieberson was willing to chance releasing it) and received negative reviews by critics upon its release, it became one of the best-known and biggest-selling jazz albums, reaching number two in the U.S. Billboard "Pop Albums" chart, and produced one single—Paul Desmond's "Take Five"—that reached number five in the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
In 2005, it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. It was also listed on the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. The cover art for the album was designed by Neil Fujita.
Music[]
The album is a blend of cool and West Coast jazz.[2] Although the theme (and the title) of Time Out is non-common-time signatures, things are not quite so simple. "Blue Rondo à la Turk" starts in 9/8, with a typically Balkan 2+2+2+3 subdivision into short and long beats (the rhythm of the Turkish zeybek, equivalent of the Greek zeibekiko) as opposed to the more Western 3+3+3 pattern, but the saxophone and piano solos are in 4/4. (Despite its title, "Blue Rondo à la Turk" is not a play on Mozart's "Rondo alla Turca" from his Piano Sonata No. 11, but rather is based on a Turkish rhythm that Brubeck heard.)
"Strange Meadow Lark" begins with a piano solo that exhibits no clear time signature but then settles into a fairly ordinary 4/4 swing once the rest of the group joins. "Take Five" ("supposed to be a Joe Morello drum solo", according to Desmond) is in 5/4 throughout. "Three to Get Ready" begins in waltz-time, after which it begins to alternate between two measures of 3/4 (the waltz-time), and two of 4/4. "Kathy's Waltz" (misspelled, but named after Brubeck's daughter, Cathy) starts in 4/4, and only later switches to double-waltz time, before merging the two. "Everybody's Jumpin'" is mainly in a very flexible 6/4, while "Pick Up Sticks" firms that up into a clear and steady 6/4.
It has been speculated that "Kathy's Waltz" inspired the song "All My Loving", written by Paul McCartney and performed by The Beatles, as they share similar rhythmic endings to the last phrases of their melodies.
Track listing[]
All pieces composed by Dave Brubeck, except "Take Five" by Paul Desmond.
- Side one
- "Blue Rondo à la Turk" – 6:44
- "Strange Meadow Lark" – 7:22
- "Take Five" – 5:24
- Side two
- "Three to Get Ready" – 5:24
- "Kathy's Waltz" – 4:48
- "Everybody's Jumpin'" – 4:23
- "Pick Up Sticks" – 4:16
Tracks 1 and 7 recorded on August 18; tracks 2 and 3 on on July 1; tracks 4, 5 and 6 recorded on June 25, 1959.
Personnel[]
Musical[]
Technical and design[]
- S. Neil Fujita – cover artwork
- Teo Macero – producer
- Fred Plaut – engineer
- Seth Rothstein – project director
- Cozbi Sanchez-Cabrera – art direction
- Mark Wilder – Remastering (1998 CD reissue)
50th Anniversary Legacy Edition[]
In 2009 Sony's Legacy Recordings released a special 3-disc 50th Anniversary Edition of Time Out. In addition to the complete album (1997 Remaster), the Legacy Edition includes a bonus disc featuring previously unreleased concert recordings of the same Brubeck Quartet from the 1961, 1963, and 1964 Newport Jazz Festivals. The Legacy Edition's third disc is a DVD featuring a 30-minute interview with Brubeck in 2003, and an interactive 'piano lesson' where the viewer can toggle through four different camera angles of Brubeck performing a solo version of "Three to Get Ready"