Cal Tjader and The Dave Brubeck Octet and Trio by S. Duncan Reid
Introduction. Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.
“The Dave Brubeck Trio, which made its home in the San Francisco Bay Area from 1949-51, played a role in jazz more far-reaching than its short lifespan would indicate. Fortunately for record collectors, the numerous strands of the Trio's significance can be traced directly to the recordings reissued in this collection. These recordings launched the career of Dave Brubeck, inaugurated Cal Tjader's prolific career on records, involved some near-comic, early attempts to record on tape instead of acetate, and turned out to be the seeds from which grew Fantasy Records, the world's largest jazz record producer.
The Trio enabled Dave to express his classical inclinations through a more spontaneous, less cumbersome vehicle, one more suitable to jazz. Their first records—"Blue Moon." "Indiana," "Tea for Two," and "Laura" —were (as noted in the accompanying reprinted liners) greeted with awards and critical acclaim. Listeners were no doubt responding to one of Dave's greatest pianistic virtues: the vigor of his colorful, rhythmically shifting block chords. In these and the other selections, there are the qualities that defined his persona over the years: fugue-like interplay among the instruments; clear (sometimes simple) thematic statements; a balanced group sound; and excursions into polytonality. In short, the Trio sessions established Brubeck as a unique pianist.”
Len Lyons, insert notes to The Dave Brubeck Trio 24 Classic Originals [Fantasy FCG-24726-2
“‘I define jazz as an improvised music based on European harmony and African rhythms. The challenge is to improvise on a known theme, using with taste the most advanced ideas of our times without losing the drive and rhythmic complexity of early jazz.’ This statement of his musical credo by Dave Brubeck is effectively corroborated by the eight selections embodied in this long-playing disc by the Dave Brubeck Trio.
In the short space of two years, Dave Brubeck has risen from the obscurity of an unknown jazz pianist, to a point where he is accepted in this country and abroad as one of the leaders of the modern school of musicians.”
Ralph J. Gleason, original liner notes, Fantasy 10” LPs 3-1 and 3-4
“Metronome editor Barry Ulanov in a recent issue wrote: "Dave's success was and is inevitable. More than most jazz musicians he has the equipment for both commercial and musical success. He communicates his ideas through a series of levels— melodic, harmonic, rhythmic—that may escape the technical comprehension of his listeners but rarely eludes their more easily given responses, emotional and intellectual.
"Perhaps the best word to sum up Dave Brubeck's music is 'legitimate.' It is certainly a better word than 'classical,' which suggests a tie to traditional music stronger than Dave's actually is, for the core of his contribution is a disciplined employment of all the musical devices which make sense in jazz, whatever their source.... In that employment Dave has broadened jazz just a little more and given jazz another badly needed large voice."
Referenced in Ralph J. Gleason, original liner notes, Fantasy 10” LPs 3-1 and 3-4
I thought perhaps an interesting way to transition from The Brubeck Octet years to the subsequent Dave Brubeck Trio and the Quartet would be to do so through the career of drummer, vibraphonist and bandleader Cal Tjader [1925-1982], who played a minimal role in the octet but an important one in the development of the trio and the initial quartet.
Using the Tjader perspective also serves to provide a broader view of Dave’s role in the overall early 1950s San Francisco Jazz scene as we now begin to see Dave move from music in a mainly academic environment with the octet into the life of a working professional musician with the trio and ultimately, what was to become his home base - the quartet.
This is the most comprehensive description of Dave’s early years as the leader of his own Jazz trio that I’ve been able to locate in the Jazz literature.
These excerpts are drawn from the Second Edition of S. Duncan Reid’s definitive biography - Cal Tjader: The Life and Recordings of the Man Who Revolutionized Latin Jazz 2020].
Copyright © 1993, S. Duncan Reid, all rights reserved, the author claims no right of copyright usage.
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