Dave Brubeck Quartet – Time Further Out: Miro Reflections (Impex 180g Vinyl LP)

Time Further Out continues the Dave Brubeck Quartet’s exploration of unusual time signatures that began on their 1959 album Time Out. The tracks are ordered by the number of beats per bar, starting with “It’s a Raggy Waltz” and “Bluette” in 3/4, “Charles Matthew Hallelujah” in 4/4, “Far More Blue” and “Far More Drums” in 5/4, “Maori Blues” in 6/4, “Unsquare Dance” in 7/4, “Bru’s Boogie Woogie” in 8/8, and concluding with “Blue Shadows in the Street” in 9/8. Like the original Time Out album, Time Further Out’s cover features a work of modern art: a painting by Spanish artist Joan Miro.

“The album is an absolute delight that keeps surprising as it unfolds into tracks such as “Far More Drums,” “Maori Blues,” and the Mingus-like human percussion heard in “Unsquare Dance.” Impex’s reissue is excellent… Great stuff.” – Wayne Garcia, The Absolute Sound

Dave Brubeck, “Time Further Out” mastered from the original analog tape by George Marino at Sterling Sounds in New York and pressed at RTI in Camarillo, California.

“Reissued here by the new IMPEX label (headed up by ex Cisco Musicʼs Abey Fonn) there is much to be grateful for. First, the simple, brave fact of picking the follow-up hit rather than the original which has been reissued who knows how many times, shows at least interest in producing and reissuing those records which undeservedly so have remained locked up in someoneʼs vaults. Personally, I could really care less about yet another Time Out reissue (or Kind Of Blue for that matter), alas, Time Further Out is in my opinion in fact the better record to begin with, if only perhaps because Time Out has literally been played to death. A mint original I own used to be the benchmark for me; happily I can report that this reissue (mastered by George Marino from the original 2-track tapes) trounces my copy handily. From the first note, there is simply an increased level of information being decoded; backgrounds are quiet, the dynamics of the recording come across fully preserved and quite simply, the record just makes you swing. “Unsquare Dance”, played at respectable levels sounds quite daring and dashing; no wonder it became the recordʼs hit.

Musicians:
Dave Brubeck, piano
Paul Desmond, alto sax
Eugene Wright, bass
Joe Morello, drums

Selections:
1. It’s A Raggy Waltz (3/4)
2. Bluette (3/4)
3. Charles Matthew Hallelujah (4/4)
4. Far More Blue (5/4)
5. Far More Drums (5/4)
6. Maori Blues (6/4)
7. Unsquare Dance (7/4)
8. Bru’s Boogie Woogie (8/8)
9. Blue Shadows In The Street (9/8)