Top Artists – Dave Brubeck

Dave Brubeck – Jazz Impressions Of Japan

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  • A KILLER sounding copy and the first to ever hit the site! Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or very close to it on both sides
  • These sides are incredibly clean, clear, spacious and full-bodied with tons of Tubey Magic and a solid bottom end
  • “Thirteen years into their tenure, the Dave Brubeck Quartet was still able to mine the creative vein for new means of expression… The sketches Brubeck and Desmond created all invoke the East, particularly the folk melodies of Japan directly, while still managing to use the Debussian impressionistic approach to jazz that kept them riding the charts and creating a body of music that, while playing into the exotica craze of the moment, was still jazz composed and played with integrity.” – All Music

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Dave Brubeck – Anything Goes!

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  • With two Triple Plus (A+++) Shootout Winning sides, this original stereo copy simply could not be beat, and it plays as quietly as these 360 stereo pressings ever do
  • This is a Must Own for fans of the later Brubeck albums (the ones in standard time signatures) or simply for those who want to hear these marvelous Cole Porter songs played with style and verve by musicians of consummate skill
  • “The Quartet performs eight of Cole Porter’s most famous songs on this enjoyable outing. Few surprises occur but the music often swings hard, pianist Brubeck and altoist Paul Desmond take several excellent solos and bassist Eugene Wright and drummer Joe Morello really push the group.”

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Dave Brubeck – Time Out on Classic Records

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Sonic Grade: D

When we did a shootout for this record way back in October of 2007 we took the opportunity to play the Classic Records 200 gram pressing. Maybe we got a bad one, who knows, but that record did not sound remotely as good as the real thing (6 eye or 360, both can be quite good). The piano sounded thin and hard, which was quite unexpected given the fact that we used to consider the Classic LP one of their few winners and actually recommended it.

As we said in our shootout: “We dropped the needle on the Classic reissue to see how it stacked up against a serious pressing. Suffice it to say, the real Time Out magic isn’t going to be found on any heavy vinyl reissue!”

Dave Brubeck Trio w/ Gerry Mulligan – Blues Roots

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A distinguished member of the Better Records Jazz Hall of Fame.

A very different quartet appears on this record, with Mulligan’s baritone sax replacing Desmond’s alto and a whole new rhythm section behind both of these veteran leaders.

We’ve been surprised how good these mid- to late-’60s Brubeck recordings can sound. There’s still plenty of Tubey Magical richness on the best pressings of these records, a quality that is especially important when trying to reproduce the full-bodied sound of a baritone sax.  (more…)

The Dave Brubeck – Time Further Out – Our Stereo Shootout Winner from 2011

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A distinguished member of the Better Records Jazz Hall of Fame .

This Columbia Original Six-Eye Label Stereo pressing is the new ALL TIME CHAMPION for this album, with two INCREDIBLE A+++ sides and surprisingly quiet vinyl for a record this old! We just finished a big shootout for Time Further Out and this copy was the best BY FAR. It gives you big drums, incredible spaciousness, tight bass, extended highs and wonderful clarity. I don’t think you could find a better sounding copy no matter what you did!    (more…)

The Dave Brubeck Quartet – Time Changes – Our Shootout Winner from 2010

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A distinguished member of the Better Records Jazz Hall of Fame.

Side one is solid and warm. Note that the sax and piano are lively and present on track three, one of the better sounding tracks and one we used to test with in our shootout.

On side two of many copies the orchestra sounded dry, and sometimes aggressive when loud, but on this copy the sound stayed smooth and full. Note how breathy Desmond’s sax is.

  • This 360 copy has Super Hot sound on side one – big, solid and warm
  • Super Hot on side two – richer and tubier than most
  • More superb sound from the legendary CBS 30th street studios in New York
  • The fourth entry in Brubeck’s time signature series of classic jazz albums 

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The Dave Brubeck Quartet – Time Further Out – Our Mono Shootout Winner from 2010

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A distinguished member of the Better Records Jazz Hall of Fame for this amazing MONO LP.

This Columbia Six-Eye pressing is THE BEST SOUNDING MONO COPY OF THIS ALBUM WE’VE EVER HEARD! The better Mono pressings of this album give you extra immediacy, more solidity to the drums, and energy like you wouldn’t believe. That makes the drum solo on side two sound OUT OF THIS WORLD. Most copies are congested and veiled, but not this one! The sound is spacious and transparent with wonderful presence. You will not believe how lively it is! 

Both sides are rich and full-bodied with lots of sweetness and extension up top. The energy and transparency are wonderful. The bass is a bit tubby, but that’s what you get on these vintage Six Eye pressings. It’s worth it when there’s as much tubey magic as you get on this pressing. (more…)

The Dave Brubeck Quartet – Near Myth – Reviewed in 2011

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A distinguished member of the Better Records Jazz Hall of Fame.

This original STEREO BLUE VINYL Fantasy pressing has Hot Stamper sound on both sides, with rich and musical Tubey Magical qualities appropriate to this early ’60s West Coast jazz. We’ve known about this album for close to twenty years, having played the surprisingly good sounding OJC pressing and recommended it back in the days when those kinds of records were still in print.  (more…)

The Dave Brubeck Quartet – Time Out

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A distinguished member of the Better Records Jazz Hall of Fame.

This time around no other copy of Time Out could touch our good Six Eye Stereo pressings — they were in a league of their own.

If you’ve been with us for a long time you may remember that this was not always the case. We used to really like some 360s as I recall, as well as the original mono pressing. This time around, not so much. 

This time around most everythings’s different. Allow us to explain.

1. Our stereo is different; we’ve made quite a number of changes to it since our last big shootout for Time Out a few years back.

2. We’re different; we have better (I would hope) listening skills. In fact I’m sure we listen for different qualities in a recording than we might have years ago.

3. Even more importantly, we don’t have the same pile of pressings we had years ago. They’re gone, replaced by a new batch. This new batch had some killer original pressings, some good 360s, and not much to speak of on the later labels.

With a different batch we might have found a great sounding 360 pressing; we have to believe they exist, and we certainly can’t say that our best copy here could not have been bettered in some way. That would be foolish; anything can be bettered. But for us, in 2014 (and probably through 2015), this is it. This is the right sound. (more…)

Dave Brubeck Quartet – 25th Anniversary Reunion – Reviewed in 2005

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A distinguished member of the Better Records Jazz Hall of Fame.

This album has SURPRISINGLY GOOD SOUND and even more SURPRISINGLY GOOD MUSIC! Who would have thought that these old goats still could still play jazz at this level? Especially Joe Morello on the drums — this guy drums up a storm, especially during his solos on the first track. He’s always been one of the strongest members of the foursome. But everybody here is good, and they do both their famous songs and some that they’re less well known for.   (more…)