Time Out (album)
Encyclopedia
Time Out is a jazz
album by The Dave Brubeck Quartet
, released in 1959 on Columbia Records
, catalogue CL 1397. Recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studio
in New York City
, it is based upon the use of time signature
s that were unusual for jazz such as 9/8 and 5/4. The album is a subtle blend of cool
and West Coast
jazz. It peaked at #2 on the Billboard pop albums chart
, and has been certified platinum by the RIAA.
taking a chance to release it, and received negative reviews by critics upon its release, it became one of the best-known and biggest-selling jazz albums, charting highly on the popular albums chart when 50,000 units sold for a jazz album was impressive.. It produced a Top 40 hit single
in "Take Five
," the one track not written by Dave Brubeck
.
Although the theme 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 and two of 4/4. "Kathy's Waltz," named after Brubeck's daughter Cathy but misspelled, 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.
by Legacy Records. 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 in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
.
In 2009 Legacy Recordings released a special three-disc
50th Anniversary Edition of Time Out. In addition to the complete album, the Legacy Edition includes a bonus disc featuring previously unreleased concert recordings of the same Brubeck Quartet from the 1961, 1963, and 1964 gatherings of Newport Jazz Festival
. 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".
Dave Brubeck's "Time Out" was included among a group of 15 DualDisc
releases that were test marketed in just two cities: Boston and Seattle. Due to "rights issues," the DualDisc issue was recalled within days of being shipped to just a handful of stores in these two cities. As a result, fewer than 50 copies of this album are known to exist in the DualDisc format, and this is one of the rarest commercially released CDs of all time. A handful of copies of the DualDisc version of this album have traded hands in the collectors market since it released, some for several hundred dollars.
Billboard (North America)
Singles
Billboard (North America)
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
album by The Dave Brubeck Quartet
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
The Dave Brubeck Quartet is an American jazz quartet, founded in 1951 by Dave Brubeck and originally featuring Paul Desmond on saxophone and Brubeck on piano...
, released in 1959 on Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, catalogue CL 1397. Recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studio
CBS 30th Street Studio
CBS 30th Street Studio, also known as Columbia 30th Street Studio, and nicknamed "The Church", was an American recording studio operated by Columbia Records from 1949 to 1981 located at 207 East 30th Street, between Second and Third Avenues in Manhattan, New York City...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, it is based upon the use of time signature
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
s that were unusual for jazz such as 9/8 and 5/4. The album is a subtle blend of cool
Cool jazz
Cool is a style of modern jazz music that arose following the Second World War. It is characterized by its relaxed tempos and lighter tone, in contrast to the bebop style that preceded it...
and West Coast
West coast jazz
West Coast jazz refers to various styles of jazz music that developed around Los Angeles and San Francisco during the 1950s. West Coast jazz is often seen as a sub-genre of cool jazz, which featured a less frenetic, calmer style than bebop or hard bop. The music tended to be more heavily arranged,...
jazz. It peaked at #2 on the Billboard pop albums chart
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, and has been certified platinum by the RIAA.
Background
Although the album was intended as an experiment, with Columbia president Goddard LiebersonGoddard Lieberson
Goddard Lieberson was the president of Columbia Records from 1956 to 1971, and from 1973 to 1975. He was also a composer, and studied with George Frederick McKay, at the University of Washington, Seattle....
taking a chance to release it, and received negative reviews by critics upon its release, it became one of the best-known and biggest-selling jazz albums, charting highly on the popular albums chart when 50,000 units sold for a jazz album was impressive.. It produced a Top 40 hit single
Hit single
A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
in "Take Five
Take Five
"Take Five" is a jazz piece written by Paul Desmond and performed by The Dave Brubeck Quartet on their 1959 album Time Out. Recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studios in New York City on June 25, July 1, and August 18, 1959, this piece became one of the group's best-known records, famous for its...
," the one track not written by Dave Brubeck
Dave Brubeck
David Warren "Dave" Brubeck is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills...
.
Although the theme of Time Out is non-common-time signatures, things are not quite so simple. "Blue Rondo à la Turk
Blue Rondo à la Turk
"Blue Rondo à la Turk" is a jazz standard composition by Dave Brubeck. It appeared on the album Time Out in 1959. It is written in 9/8 and swing 4/4.-History:Brubeck heard the unusual "1-2/1-2/1-2/1-2-3" rhythm performed by Turkish musicians on the street...
" 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
Zeibekiko
Zeibekiko is a Greek folk dance with a rhythmic pattern of 9/4 or else 9/8 . The name of the dance derives from the Zeibek warriors of Anatolia. It is danced by one person only and is of free choreographic structure, which is often refers to ancient Greek tragedy...
) 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
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
's "Rondo alla Turca" from his Piano Sonata No. 11
Piano Sonata No. 11 (Mozart)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K 331 is a sonata in three movements:#Andante grazioso — a theme with six variations#Menuetto — a minuet and trio#Alla Turca: Allegretto in A minor and major....
, 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
Joe Morello
Joseph Albert Morello was a jazz drummer best known for his 12½-year stint with The Dave Brubeck Quartet. He was frequently noted for playing in the unusual time signatures employed by that group in such pieces as "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo à la Turk"...
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 and two of 4/4. "Kathy's Waltz," named after Brubeck's daughter Cathy but misspelled, 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
All My Loving
"All My Loving" is a song by The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney , from the 1963 album With The Beatles. Though it was not released as a single in the United Kingdom or the United States, it drew considerable radio airplay, prompting EMI to issue it as the title track of an EP...
", written by Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
and performed by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, as they share similar rhythmic endings to the last phrases of their melodies.
Legacy
In 1997, the album was remastered for compact discCompact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
by Legacy Records. In 2005, it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
to be added to the National Recording Registry
National Recording Registry
The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, which created the National Recording...
. It was also listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die is a musical reference book edited by Robert Dimery, first published in 2005. The most recent edition consists of a list of albums released between 1955 and 2010, part of a series from Quintessence Editions Ltd...
.
In 2009 Legacy Recordings released a special three-disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
50th Anniversary Edition of Time Out. In addition to the complete album, the Legacy Edition includes a bonus disc featuring previously unreleased concert recordings of the same Brubeck Quartet from the 1961, 1963, and 1964 gatherings of Newport Jazz Festival
Newport Jazz Festival
The Newport Jazz Festival is a music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It was established in 1954 by socialite Elaine Lorillard, who, together with husband Louis Lorillard, financed the festival for many years. The couple hired jazz impresario George Wein to organize the...
. 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".
Dave Brubeck's "Time Out" was included among a group of 15 DualDisc
DualDisc
DualDisc was a type of double-sided optical disc product developed by a group of record companies including EMI Music, Universal Music Group, Sony/BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and 5.1 Entertainment Group and later under the aegis of the Recording Industry Association of America...
releases that were test marketed in just two cities: Boston and Seattle. Due to "rights issues," the DualDisc issue was recalled within days of being shipped to just a handful of stores in these two cities. As a result, fewer than 50 copies of this album are known to exist in the DualDisc format, and this is one of the rarest commercially released CDs of all time. A handful of copies of the DualDisc version of this album have traded hands in the collectors market since it released, some for several hundred dollars.
Side one
Side two
Personnel
- Dave BrubeckDave BrubeckDavid Warren "Dave" Brubeck is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills...
— pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal... - Paul DesmondPaul DesmondPaul Desmond , born Paul Emil Breitenfeld, was a jazz alto saxophonist and composer born in San Francisco, best known for the work he did in the Dave Brubeck Quartet and for penning that group's greatest hit, "Take Five"...
— alto saxophoneAlto saxophoneThe alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions... - Eugene WrightEugene Wright"The Senator" Eugene Wright is an American jazz bassist, best known for his work as a member of The Dave Brubeck Quartet, in particular on the group's most famous album Time Out , with pianist Brubeck, drummer Joe Morello and saxophonist Paul Desmond.Wright, nicknamed "The Senator", had played...
— bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2... - Joe MorelloJoe MorelloJoseph Albert Morello was a jazz drummer best known for his 12½-year stint with The Dave Brubeck Quartet. He was frequently noted for playing in the unusual time signatures employed by that group in such pieces as "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo à la Turk"...
— drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Production personnel
- Teo MaceroTeo MaceroTeo Macero , born Attilio Joseph Macero, was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and record producer...
— producer - Fred PlautFred PlautFrederick "Fred" Plaut was a recording engineer and amateur photographer. He was employed by Columbia Records during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, eventually becoming the label's chief engineer...
— engineer - S. Neil FujitaS. Neil FujitaSadamitsu "S. Neil" Fujita was an American graphic designer known for his innovative book cover and record album designs.-Background:...
— cover artwork - Seth Rothstein — project director
- Cozbi Sanchez-Cabrera — art direction
- Mark Wilder — reissue remastering
Charts
AlbumBillboard (North America)
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Pop Albums | 2 |
Singles
Billboard (North America)
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | "Take Five" | Adult Contemporary | 5 |
| 1961 | "Take Five" | Pop Singles | 25 |
Sales and certifications
| Country | Certification | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States | Platinum | 1,000,000+ |
External links
- The Dave Brubeck Quartet: Time Out — by A.B. Spellman and Murray Horwitz; part of NPR's Basic Jazz Record Library
- Exclusive video: Dave Brubeck discusses "Time Out" — A short video at Amazon.comAmazon.comAmazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
of Dave Brubeck discussing the rhythms used on Time Out