Jazz Goes to College
| Jazz Goes to College | ||||||||||
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| Live album by The Dave Brubeck Quartet | ||||||||||
| Released | June 7, 1954 | |||||||||
| Recorded | 1954 | |||||||||
| Genre | Cool jazz, West Coast jazz | |||||||||
| Length | 51:46 | |||||||||
| Label | Columbia | |||||||||
| Producer | George Avakian | |||||||||
| The Dave Brubeck Quartet chronology | ||||||||||
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Jazz Goes to College is a 1954 album documenting the North American college tour of the Dave Brubeck Quartet. It was Dave Brubeck's first album for Columbia Records. He was joined by alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, double bassist Bob Bates, and drummer Joe Dodge. The album was re-released on CD and cassette under the Columbia imprint in 1991 and on CD by Sony International in 2000.
The college tour, in which the group crossed the country visiting major universities and junior colleges, was conceived by Brubeck's wife Iola as a way to introduce jazz to a new audience. Brubeck described encountering resistance at the colleges, some of which were reluctant to allow him to perform, but found following initial forays that the quartet was in much demand. As the quartet traveled across the country, he told the Jazz Education Journal, they would play as many as 90 colleges in a four-month period.
"Balcony Rock", recorded at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, is a heavily improvised tune formed on an eight-bar blues led by alto saxophonist Paul Desmond. "Out of Nowhere" was recorded at the University of Cincinnati and showcases Brubeck's timing, with passages that veer from atonal to melodic. Recorded at Oberlin College, "Le Souk" features aggressive, frenetic piano by Brubeck, Bob Bates' propulsive double bass lines, and a firm backbeat by drummer Joe Dodge. Desmond's melodies feature Middle Eastern influences.
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Wikipedia