Time Out

There is no need to begin Time Out by counting. Follow a clipped piano figure, a longer alto line or the weight of a drum accent. The Dave Brubeck Quartet makes an unusual rhythmic frame feel tangible through the contrast between the people playing inside it.

Recorded in New York in 1959 and released by Columbia that year, the album features Brubeck on piano, Paul Desmond on alto saxophone, Eugene Wright on bass and Joe Morello on drums. The seven-track digital edition follows the original programme documented by the Brubeck Collection. Desmond, rather than Brubeck, composed Take Five. Anniversary bonus performances and the later Time Outtakes collection should remain distinct from these album versions.

A pattern before a number

On a first listen, locate the point where a short shape comes back. That can be enough to establish a foothold without knowing the time signature. Listen for what a melodic line does while piano or bass preserves a repeating reference. Does the same pattern seem to change weight when another player enters? Counting can eventually help describe the experience, but it need not become a test that must be passed before the music can be enjoyed.

Seven different openings

The transition from Blue Rondo À la Turk to Strange Meadow Lark offers an immediate contrast between concentrated motion and a wider breath. Take Five then supplies a familiar landmark, but the record continues through four more pieces. Compare the beginnings of Three to Get Ready, Kathy’s Waltz and Pick Up Sticks. Instead of treating the famous single’s rhythm as an explanation of the entire album, let each piece establish its own way of returning to a pattern.

Hear behind the solo

When one instrument takes the foreground, the others still help define the space. Shift attention from the most obvious line to the bass and hear whether the balance changes. Anyone who knows this music as an agreeable background can use a short passage twice, choosing the least noticeable part on the second pass. The exercise brings the quartet’s work into focus before the album’s historical reputation takes over. Memorable melody and rhythmic experimentation meet through these relationships, not through a time signature printed on a page.