A great collection of tracks from one of Dave Brubeck's most inventive periods – that time when he was playing with time changes and rhythms on albums like Time Out, Time In, and other Columbia sets with his classic quartet with Paul Desmond! Titles include "Take Five", "Blue Rondo A La Turk", "Unsquare Dance", "Countdown", "It's A Raggy Waltz", "Bluette", "Cassandra", "Maori Blues", "Unisphere", and "Blue Shadows In The Street". LP, Vinyl record album

Dave Brubeck on piano, Bobby Militello on alto sax & flute, Alec Dankworth on bass & Randy Jones on drums. CD

Great live work from the Dave Brubeck Quartet – a batch of recordings from Boston's legendary Storyville night club! The lineup features Dave on keys and the mighty Paul Desmond on alto sax – already stepping out here with a clear, crisp tone that's simply beautiful – a style that's a surprisingly nice match for the Boston scene of the 50s, which was budding similar altoists like Charlie Mariano and Boots Mussulli – recorded here with bass by Bob Bates, and drums by Joe Dodge. Tracks are relatively long, and titles include "Back Bay Blues", "When You're Smiling", "Here Lies Love", and "Gone With The Wind". LP, Vinyl record album

A career spanning collection featuring work with Cal Tjader, Paul Desmond, Christian McBride, and others. Tracks include "The Way You Look Tonight", "Koto Song", "Here Comes McBride", "Sweet Georgia Brown", "Laura", "Singin' In The Rain", and "Lulu's Back In Town". CD

One of those off brand-looking albums on the Crown label – but like the rest, always better than you'd expect from the cover! Paul Desmond's included – and titles include "Que Tanto", "Cherry Pickin", "Lyons Busy", and "Faded Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

A sweet live set from Dave Brubeck's early years on Columbia Records – recorded in New York, but with all the calculated cool and modern tones Brubeck first forged in the San Francisco scene of the 50s! Paul Desmond's on board on alto sax – really getting a lot of space to stretch out on the album's extended performances, with a haunting, floating tone that really sends us. Remaining members include Bob Bates on bass, and Joe Dodge on drums – and tracks include "Lover", "Love Walked In", "The Duke", "Little Girl Blue", and "Fare Thee Well Annabelle". LP, Vinyl record album

A classic album from Dave – recorded at Oberlin College, the mid-Ohio haven of bohemiana, and a growing hotbed of jazz activity centered around students in the college's conservatory of music. Dave and crew made the trip at the request of the kids – breaking from their mostly San Francisco-based recording career to cut what would end up becoming a very successful album in Dave's catalog, and begin a whole "at" or "goes to" series in his career. The group's the early quartet with Paul Desmond, Lloyd Davis, and Ron Crotty – and tunes include long and jamming versions of "The Way You Look Tonight", "How High The Moon", and "Stardust". CD

A 2CD retrospective of beautiful Dave Brubeck jazz for Columbia Records – spanning his tenure at Columbia from the mid 50s to 1970 – selected by Brubeck himself in celebration of his 90th birthday! It's filled with great stuff that Brubeck recorded for the label, including classic quartet recordings with Paul Desmond, Eugene Wright and Joe Morello, recordings with Louis Armstrong, Carmen McCrae, Gerry Mulligan and more. 21 tracks on 2CDs, including "Jeepers Creepers", "Taking A Chance On Love", "The Duke", "Blue Rondo A La Turk", "Evenin'", "Take Five", "My One Bad Habit", "Something To Sing About", "Somewhere", "Summer Song", "Out Of Nowhere", "St. Louis Blues", the previously unreleased "Three To Get Ready" and more. CD

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

A quartet date with Bill Smith on clarinet, Chris Brubeck on electric bass, Randy Jones on drums and Russell Gloyd conducting the Montreal International Jazz Festival Orchestra. Tracks include "Summer Music", "Koto Song", "Lullaby", "Take The A Train" and "New Wine". CD

An early version of the quartet – with Paul Desmond on alto, Bob Bates on bass, and Joe Dodge on drums. Titles include "Audrey", "Jeepers Creepers", "Stompin For Mili", "A Fine Romance", and "Brother Can You Spare A Dime". LP, Vinyl record album

Easily the crowning moment of genius for the legendary Dave Brubeck Quartet – the moment when all things came together magically, and the group somehow elevated themselves to a whole new level in jazz! At the time of the set, Brubeck, Paul Desmond, and the rest had already been making plenty of waves with their creative yet swinging approaches to modern jazz – heard on a number of successful albums for Fantasy and Columbia in the 50s. But with this record, they really knocked one out of the park – blending Desmond's cool alto, Brubeck's unusual piano phrasing, Joe Morello's melodic drum work, and Eugene Wright's pulsating bass into a waltzing, almost modal groove that crossed over to many camps at the time! The classics "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo Ala Turk" were both hits on their own – but all titles are great, and include "Kathy's Waltz", "Strange Medow Lark", "Everybody's Jumpin", and "Pick Up Sticks". LP, Vinyl record album

Rare material from the sessions for one of the greatest jazz albums ever – the legendary 1959 Time Out album by the Dave Brubeck quartet – expanded here with unreleased outtakes from the recording date, which include two tracks that were not even on the original record! The sound of the group is legendary – the crisp alto of Paul Desmond next to the ever-shifting, always-rhythmic piano of Brubeck – the man who brought modern jazz to the masses – aided with the fantastic bass of Eugene Wright and razor-sharp drum work of Joe Morello – every bit as great here as on the album that was released! The first five tracks are pretty close to the originals, with slight variations – a testament to the well-rehearsed nature of the group – but the added tunes really show the record in formation, as does the extra banter between the band that's included at the end. New titles include "Watusi Jam" and "I'm In A Dancing Mood" – alongside alternate takes of "Blue Rondo A La Turk", "Take Five", "Cathy's Waltz", "Three To Get Ready", and "Strange Meadowlark". LP, Vinyl record album

Truth Is Fallen is a complicated orchestral work – with Brubeck's piano, and backing from both the Cincinnati Symphony and the rock group New Heavenly Blue! Two generations, four Brubecks – an all family affair from the early 70s! Patriarch Dave Brubeck leads the sons through some of Dave's fine original numbers, sitting at his acoustic piano with Darius Brubeck on electric piano, organ and more, Chris Brubeck on trombone and bass, and Danny Brubeck on drums – along with David Mason on guitar and some utility players. The effort is way better than you may be expecting, as the brood shows some truly surprising range on tracks that veer from wildly energetic and muscular, to slender and brooding, to tightly moving! An under-appreciated gem! Tracks include "Circadian Dysrhythmia", "Three To Get Ready", "Blue Rondo A La Turk", "Unsquare Dance" (with some lightly funky bass), "The Holy One", "Call Of The Wild", "Knives" and "Tin Sink". CD

Dave Digs Disney – and hence, so do we! The album's one of the first to ever pay tribute to the great compositions heard in Disney films – and it features the magical sound of the Brubeck Quartet, turned upon a host of familiar numbers, and transforming them into longer vehicles for jazz improvisation. Given Dave's great sense of play with rhythm and timings, the tunes really get changed up in these versions – in a way that takes best advantage of the modal rhythms and jazz waltz styles that many of them share. Paul Desmond's alto work is as impeccably-handled as ever, and Joe Morello's sprightly drums seem perfectly at home with the tunes – as does Dave's warmly lyrical work on piano. Titles include "Alice In Wonderland", "Give A Little Whistle", "One Song", and "Someday My Prince Will Come". LP, Vinyl record album

Highlights from three concerts by the Dave Brubeck quartet featuring Paul Desmond, Gene Wright, and Joe Morello. Tracks include "Pennies From Heaven", "Take Five", "For All We Know", "Blue Rondo A La Turk", "Real Ambassador", and "Tangerine". CD

With Paul Desmond on alto sax, Ron Crotty on bass, Lloyd Davis & Joe Dodge on drums. CD

Bravo Brubeck, indeed – as this great live set not only has the Brubeck quartet in Mexico, working through some surprising Latin-themed tunes – but also includes some added percussion and guitar, which brings a whole new dimension to their sound! The album's still got the core Brubeck approach at its heart – with Dave on piano, Paul Desmond on incredible alto sax, Eugene Wright on bass, and Joe Morello on drums – but the quartet finds a way to really open up on these numbers, and expand their sound into new modes – as they'd done on some of their Japanese and Eurasian explorations. A number of tunes are Latin American numbers, re-arranged in a modern way by Brubeck – and titles include "Cielito Lindo", "Sobre Las Olas", "Nostalgia De Mexico", "Poinciana", "Estrellita", and "Alla En El Rancho Grande". CD features the bonus track "Frenesi". CD

With Brubeck on piano, Bill Smith on clarinet, Chris Brubeck on bass and trombone, and Randy Jones on drums. Titles include "Softly William Softly", "Koto Song", "Benjamin", and "Take Five". LP, Vinyl record album

An overlooked gem in the Dave Brubeck Columbia catalog – and a very hip set of "Eastern" tinged tracks! The album's theme is obvious from the title – as Dave pens a set of tracks reflecting his experiences on recent visits to Japan – but the sound and the style moves way past the simple approach that might have been used, into territory that has the exotic feel of early 60s work by Yusef Lateef, Horace Silver, and some of the other hardbop-exotics around at the time. Of course, a big factor in the success of the record is the crisp and willowy alto of Paul Desmond – working here to create snakey lines that really support the mood of the tracks. Titles include "Osaka Blues", "Koto Song", "Zen is When", "Tokyo Traffic", and "Toki's Theme". LP, Vinyl record album

A really great take on the sound of the Dave Brubeck/Paul Desmond quartet of the 50s and 60s – that magical unit that really transformed the sound of jazz at the time, and continues to hold strong over the decades! The approach here, though, is also a nice change from Paul and Dave – in that Jens Sondergaard has maybe a bit more spirit in his alto, and also plays soprano sax too – and is matched by some fantastic piano from Ole Kock Hansen, a player with a much more organic flow than Brubeck – not that we don't like Dave's piano, but Ole's got a warmth that really changes things up – as does the bass work of Lasse Lundstrom, who's upfront and full in the mix, and also brings a lot of humanity to the proceedings! Tunes are all gems from the key years of the original group – and titles include "Why Not", "Bossa Antiqua", "The Duke", "Broadway Bossa Nova", "Embarcadero", "In Your Own Sweet Way", and "Brandenburger Gate". CD

A cool set of modern jazz numbers put together by the Qualiton Records label in Hungary – a small but strong outlet of jazz during the years of the Iron Curtain! The combo here is led by pianist Janos Gonda, and features Attilla Savari on saxes, Peter Kaldor on vibes, and Tibor Buvari on bass – plus a vocal solo from Marta Szirmai in one spot – and the group take on tunes by Thelonious Monk, Dave Brubeck, John Lewis, and others! LP, Vinyl record album

A long-overdue full length album from Ranny Sinclair – a very cool 60s singer who recorded for Columbia Records with a very groovy style – including a few obscure tracks done with piano legend Dave Brubeck! The sound here is beautiful – breathy at times, with some bossa currents in the rhythms – and a cool, compressed production technique that makes Ranny's vocals glide along beautifully with the instrumentation – a lot like Astrud Gilberto at Verve, or Joanie Sommers on some of her groovier records – but also very unique! Teo Macero produced – and the tracks clearly have the best of the 60s Columbia Records jazz talents behind them – yet only four singles' worth of material were released at the time, which are combined with unreleased tracks to make a really wonderful album. Titles include "Ode To A Cowboy", "Fan The Flame", "There Won't Be Trumpets", "Sweet William", "With Any Other Girl", "Something To Sing About", "Autumn In Our Town", "Barbara Allen", and "A Wonderful Guy". CD

A long-overdue full length album from Ranny Sinclair – a very cool 60s singer who recorded for Columbia Records with a very groovy style – including a few obscure tracks done with piano legend Dave Brubeck! The sound here is beautiful – breathy at times, with some bossa currents in the rhythms – and a cool, compressed production technique that makes Ranny's vocals glide along beautifully with the instrumentation – a lot like Astrud Gilberto at Verve, or Joanie Sommers on some of her groovier records – but also very unique! Teo Macero produced – and the tracks clearly have the best of the 60s Columbia Records jazz talents behind them – yet only four singles' worth of material were released at the time, which are combined with unreleased tracks to make a really wonderful album. Titles include "Ode To A Cowboy", "Fan The Flame", "There Won't Be Trumpets", "Sweet William", "With Any Other Girl", "Something To Sing About", "Autumn In Our Town", "Barbara Allen", and "A Wonderful Guy". LP, Vinyl record album

A wide ranging compilation beginning with African field recordings, through early blues recordings by Baby Dodds and Leadbelly, to early big band recordings by Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman and others, along with classical pieces by Bach and Bizet, and contemporary recordings by Pete Rugolo, Dave Brubeck, and more. LP, Vinyl record album

The team of Paul Desmond and Jim Hall was one of the best ideas ever forged in American jazz of the 60s – and the icy pair are perfect company together on this album of bossa-inflected tracks with a very cool edge! The album allows Desmond's alto to take on a warmth and flowing quality it never had in the Dave Brubeck group – and Hall's guitar work, while a masterpiece of understatement, brings in just the right amount of ringing tone to echo out the brilliance of Desmond's ideas. Gene Wright and Connie Kay complete the group, and titles include "O Gato", "Samba Cantina", "Girl From East 9th", "Ship Without A Sail", and "Bossa Antigua". Plus, this excellent CD reissue features 2 bonus tracks – the groovy "Samba Cepeda" and an alternate take of "O Gato". CD

A really great pairing – and a rare non-Brubeck Paul Desmond session from the 50s! Gerry Mulligan and Desmond weave laidback lines around each other, working here in a pianoless quartet that features Dave Bailey on drums and Joe Benjamin on bass – very much a Mulligan-inspired approach, and one that lets Desmond's alto get even more open-ended and willowy! The sound of both players is great, and titles include "Blues In Time", "Standstill", "Line For Lyons", and "Fall Out". LP, Vinyl record album

Incredible stuff – and a record that grows more and more important to us over the years! Desmond's best known as the icy alto behind Dave Brubeck's big records of the 50s, but by this point in his career, he'd developed a keen interest in Brazilian music – and was working at a level that was far more sophisticated than most other American jazzmen interested in Brazil. This incredible record features him working with the arrangements of Don Sebesky, and the Brazilian instrumentation of Edu Lobo, Airto, and Dorio Ferreira. The set's comprised almost entirely of tracks by Lobo and a young Milton Nasimento – and titles include "Faithful Brother", "From The Hot Afternoon", "Crystal Illusions", "October", "Catavento", and "Gira Girou" – all done in these amazing breezy versions that sound like nothing else we can think of! Plus, the CD features 6 bonus alternate takes – not on the original album! CD

Stan Getz with the Gary McFarland Orchestra, Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd, Shorty Rogers & his Orchestra with Laurindo Almeida, Cannonball Adderley with Sergio Mendes & Bud Shank & Dave Brubeck with Paul Desmond. CD

Features Jimmy Johnson on guitar and vocals, plus a bit of harmonica on one track too – and the set features an unusual take on Dave Brubeck's "Take Five"! CD

Features Ron Carter, Lionel Hampton, Dave Brubeck, Toots Thielemans, Ursula Dudziak, Tito Puente, Jon Faddis, Clark Terry, Candido and more – with narration by Charles Kuralt. CD