Well, dear readers, it is very late and I am super tired but not super tired enough not to write these here notes. In fact, I am primed to write these here notes, mostly due to the reason I only got five hours of sleep – I’ve decided on the next book, so much so that I’ve already created the title page and document. As is my custom, at some point in the next eight weeks I’ll write the first page or two, no matter how rough, so that come January 1 I can just dive in. My mind was going in many directions (mostly west) but in the end I chose exactly what I thought I would choose. But what made me choose it was figuring out what the story would be and the title.
So, that was nice. Nice also was receiving a package that contained a box set of nineteen CDs in mini-LP covers – the entirety of Dave Brubeck’s studio albums for Columbia. I spent a couple of hours getting all nineteen albums into iTunes, listening as I did so. Those who’ve read Kritzer Time know I discovered Mr. Brubeck’s music when I was in junior high school – one night while flipping the dial on the radio I heard the most astonishing piece of music. I was glued to the radio as it played to its conclusion. The disc jockey came on and said it was Dave Brubeck but not the name of the piece. So, I found the number of the station, called, and got the disc jockey on the phone (this could not happen today – it was a better and nicer time back then). I told him I was fourteen and had just heard this Dave Brubeck thing and that I thought it was incredible. He told me it was called Take Five. He talked to me for quite a while, delighted to have found a fourteen-year-old who liked what he was playing. He even mentioned my name on the air. I bought the album the next day and loved all of it. The disc jokey ended up inviting me to the station (he was on at night) and I just went – didn’t tell my parents where I was going or anything. Again, different time, different world. He was a great guy and showed me lots of jazz records and taught me how to listen to jazz so that I understood what was actually happening. He was also interested in theater and told me I should do the play The Winslow Boy (I think that was the play). There was nothing untoward with this fellow, he was just a genuinely nice guy who shared his knowledge with me.
Over the years, I bought lots of Brubeck albums, but I especially liked the ones with his own compositions in weird time signatures. I loved the sound of his records – the quartet with the great Paul Desmond on sax. There was nothing as cool as their sound – they were amongst the first of the cool jazz movement back in the early 1950s. His nineteen studio albums for Columbia are simply amazing, works of art every one. You can hear his growth and watch the trajectory leading up to Time Out – Columbia was initially not keen on releasing that album – well, it became the first million-selling jazz album in history, and remains a huge seller even today. Brubeck as a pianist is very different from other favorites of mine – Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Teddy Wilson – Brubeck’s stylings are like nobody else’s. But it’s that sound – that unique sound. It still makes me indescribably happy. If I have one nit to pick with this brilliant set (which sounds great), it’s that I wish they would have made it twenty CDs and included Brubeck’s ballet for two pianos, Points on Jazz. The quartet (with Carmen MacRae doing a vocal) does play on one number, and it’s an album that I was totally in love with and still am. It’s never had a CD release, which is criminal. I may just call Sony and see if they’ll license it, although it would have to have a companion piece.
Several of the album in this box were new to me, even though I had a bunch of these on CD (everything in the box seems to have been mastered circa 2011 – the ones I have are all from previous masters), but the two southern albums never held much interest to me – much as I love everything Brubeck did I really need to hear Camptown Races or Oh, Susannah – well, they are fantastic, and amongst my favorites in the box. If Mr. Brubeck has somehow escaped your view, get this box set – I paid fifty bucks for it, which is about five bucks a CD and obviously worth every penny. Highly recommended by the likes of me.
Prior to all that listening and uploading I was up early. The helper came by and we moved some boxes around so I could get the the “brain” head piece and also the theremin, so I’ve got those now. Then we boxed up three boxes of DVDs I don’t need anymore and that cleared up some nice space. The helper then took them to Amoeba, whilst the plumber fixed the toilet – that only took about fifteen minutes. Then I went and had some bacon, eggs, and toast, then picked up the wonderful Brubeck box. I began uploading and listening immediately, took a break and did a two-and-a-half mile jog, then continued uploading and listening. I’m on CD 7 as I write these here notes, which is one of the southern-themed albums – just love it. Then it was time to get ready to see some theater.
Last night I attended something called Westfest at Theatre West. They do this once a year and it goes on for three weeks. This week there were five one-acts developed with member writers, actors, and directors. Our very own Doug Haverty was in one of them, hence my being there. I didn’t really think much of any of the plays, frankly, although some were better than others. Doug did fine but the play he was in was, for me, written in a way that was not really actable. There were two gay-themed one-acts (one of which was better than the other), one one-joke one-act (with Lee Meriwether) and one overtly melodramatic one-act (the longest piece and pretty excruciating, at least to me). The entire evening with intermission was an hour and fifty minutes, so that was good.
After the show, Doug and I went to Du-Par’s to have a little birthday celebration for him. I got there first (Doug had people at the show) and had a little Caesar salad with hardly any dressing, so that was good. Doug got there and ordered his standard lemon meringue pie and I ordered mac-and-cheese. He sent his pie back because the crust and the meringue seemed stale to him. Instead we shared the mac-and-cheese, which was perfect for me as I really didn’t want to eat the whole thing. I kind of liked it. We talked for quite a while of this and that and also that and this, and then I came home, turned on the Brubeck music and began writing these here notes.
Today, I shall arise after a good night’s beauty sleep, I’ll do a bit of writing, do a jog (going to try to do the long jog), and then I’m supping somewhere fun with friends.
Tomorrow and the rest of the week is all meetings and meals, a final work session with Kay Cole and John Boswell before we record on the weekend, a work session for The Brain with Richard Allen, who’s musical directing, writing, and then next weekend I’ll be at Capitol both days, recording.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, write, listen to more Brubeck, and then sup. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which I shall Take Five and continue on my Brubeck listening journey – a cool journey if ever there was one.