Dave Brubeck's Time Out

Abstract This book is the first full-length study of Time Out by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, one of the most commercially successful albums in the history of jazz. Although the music of Time Out is exceedingly well known, and it remains a vital element of the American soundscape, it has received very little scholarly investigation until now. A central group of chapters examines the project’s seven cuts from several different points of view. The Quartet’s creative process is charted, from Brubeck’s earliest compositional sketches and drafts through multiple takes of the recording sessions in 1959. Other topics that receive attention include Brubeck’s ability to meld jazz with classical and world musics, the album’s recorded legacy, the role of lyrics in later recordings of this repertoire, and Brubeck’s contributions to metrical experimentation in jazz. These chapters are preceded by several others that trace the path leading to Time Out, from Brubeck’s student days and the Quartet’s rise to fame in the early 1950s. The book concludes with consideration of its resonances in four additional “time” albums in the 1960s. Informed by a wealth of documentary evidence from several major archives, this study reveals many aspects of Time Out that previously have been hidden from view. It also attempts to articulate a judicious view of this album’s role in jazz of the 1950s and 1960s.