While I was at uni between 1959 and 1962 when students talked about jazz they usually meant traditional Dixieland jazz. Modern jazz didn’t have many enthusiasts because you couldn’t really dance to it. But I enjoyed it. Trad jazz was formulaic with little experimentation whereas modern jazz was varies and innovative both in instrumentation and style.
Above all I loved the whole “cool” scene…..buttoned down shirt collars, narrow ties, neat Italian suits, the tinkle of glasses maybe and the wreaths of cigarette smoke – and nobody illustrated the essence of cool jazz better than the Dave Brubeck Quartet.
Brubeck’s blocky chords, Paul Desmond’s light melodic tone and the rhythmic tightness of Joe Morello and Eugene Wright were ideally suited to experiment with the odd time signatures that became a feature of their work and Take Five (written by Desmond partly to showcase Morello’s drumming) is probably one of the best examples of that style.
Live in Belgium 1964: Dave Brubeck Quartet..Paul Desmond (alto sax), Joe Morello (drums), Eugene Wright (bass) and Dave Brubeck (piano)
