The Dave Brubeck Quartet – Time Out (1959/Sony Super Audio Compact Disc/5.1 SA-CD/SACD)

 

PCM CD Sound: N/A     DSD 2.0: B     DSD Multi-channel: B     Music: B+

 

 

One of the most celebrated, influential and imitated albums in music history, The Dave Brubeck Quartet – Time Out (1959) sold well, set new directions for the Jazz genre, proved to be a cross over into the music world that was being dominated by the first wave of Rock and was a fresh revelation all the way down to what has become one of the greatest pieces of album cover art ever made.  Then the music is just terrific track after track.  Those songs are:

 

1)     Blue Rondo Ala Turn

2)     Strange Meadow Lark

3)     Take Five

4)     Three To Get Ready

5)     Kathy’s Waltz

6)     Everybody’s Jumpin’

7)     Pick Up Sticks

 

 

Of course, Take Five is the huge hit that went on to exceed its Top 25 peak at the time and has been heard (and still is heard) all over the place, becoming one of the most successful Jazz songs and instrumental songs ever recorded.  Amazingly, this maybe an album of its time, but it also has a fresh sound that reminds me of listening to the 5.1 MLP tracks from the DVD-Audio disc in the double set of The Beatles’ Love release.

 

When you hear this music in such a high fidelity format, especially the 5.1 mix, you quickly understand why the music is great, why it endures and why it is a classic, much like seeing a classic film properly restored and looking so sharp and clear that it is a revelation.  This 5.1 SA-CD does that all sonically.  Released earlier on SA-CD as a 2-channel only release, this new 5.1 upgrade is terrific and though the recording is now 50-years-old, it is amazing how clean and well recorded the classic really is.

 

Sometimes, a higher format will reveal flaws, but not much here.  Except for some range limits because of the levels music was recorded at the time, this is amazing and even vinyl purists will be surprised.  There are no PCM CD tracks, but the decent DSD Super Audio CD 2.0 Stereo tracks the same as the previous release and just fine, but the DSD 5.1 high definition sound really allows you to hear how great the Quartet could play and that is great.

 

For the record, Mr. Brubeck played piano, Paul Desmond was alto saxophone, Joe Morella played drums and Eugene Wright played bass.  In some ways, this became a precursor to the 1960s and was still much a product of the 1950s, but times were changing and Time Out was ahead of its time then and now.  This SA-CD only proves that further.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo