''Brubeck à la mode'' is 1960 studio album by pianist
Dave Brubeck
David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...
and his quartet.
The album comprises compositions by the clarinetist
Bill Smith; this was one of three albums that Brubeck and his quartet made with Smith.
In Todd R. Decker's 2014 book ''Who Should Sing Ol' Man River?: The Lives of an American Song'', Decker wrote that the album cover of ''Brubeck à la mode'' shows the "...smiling quartet sharing ice cream sodas at a picture-perfect ice cream fountain". Decker wrote how the cover frames the album within the context of the contemporaneous
Civil Rights Movement; especially the
Greensboro sit-ins
The Greensboro sit-ins were a series of nonviolent protests in February to July 1960, primarily in the Woolworth store — now the International Civil Rights Center and Museum — in Greensboro, North Carolina, which led to the F. W. Woolwort ...
and
Nashville sit-ins
The Nashville sit-ins, which lasted from February 13 to May 10, 1960, were part of a protest to end racial segregation at lunch counters in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee. The sit-in campaign, coordinated by the Nashville S ...
which also took place at lunch counters.
Reception
Scott Yanow
Scott Yanow (born 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author.
Life and career
Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles.
Beginning in 1974, Yanow was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles and was the jazz e ...
of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
wrote that "the music generally swings and there are some fine solos but none of the individual pieces are all that memorable".
''Billboard'' magazine reviewed the album in their January 16, 1961, issue and wrote, "The music is swinging, alive and comes from Smith's pen. Brubeck plays simply and movingly on these sides as do the members of his group."
Track listing
''All compositions by Bill Smith except otherwise noted'':
# "Dorian Dance" – 3:28
# "Peace, Brother" (
Eddie DeLange
Eddie DeLange (''né'' Edgar DeLange Moss; 15 January 1904 – 15 July 1949) was an American bandleader and lyricist. Famous artists who recorded some of DeLange's songs include Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Duk ...
,
Jimmy Van Heusen
James Van Heusen (born Edward Chester Babcock; January 26, 1913 – February 6, 1990) was an American composer. He wrote songs for films, television, and theater, and won an Emmy and four Academy Award for Best Original Song, Academy Awards for ...
, Bill Smith) – 3:55
# "Invention" – 4:57
# "Lydian Line" – 5:25
# "Catch-Me-If-You-Can" – 1:45
# "Frisco Fog" – 6:01
# "The Piper" – 2:47
# "Soliloquy" – 3:26
# "One for the Kids" – 3:11
# "Ballade" – 3:58
Personnel
* Dave Brubeck -
piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
*
Bill Smith -
clarinet
The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell.
Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...
*
Eugene Wright
Eugene Joseph Wright (May 29, 1923 – December 30, 2020) was an American jazz bassist who was a member of the Dave Brubeck Quartet.
Career
Wright was born in Chicago, Illinois. He was a cornetist at high school and led the 16-piece band D ...
-
double bass
The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...
*
Joe Morello
Joseph Albert Morello (July 17, 1928 – March 12, 2011) was an American jazz drummer best known for serving as the drummer for pianist Dave Brubeck, as part of the Dave Brubeck Quartet, from 1957 to 1972, including during the quartet's "clas ...
-
drums
The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
;Technical
*
Bob Willoughby - cover photography
See also
*
Civil rights movement in popular culture
The history of the 1954 to 1968 American civil rights movement has been depicted and documented in film, song, theater, television, and the visual arts. These presentations add to and maintain cultural awareness and understanding of the goals, tact ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brubeck a la mode
1961 albums
Civil rights movement in popular culture
Dave Brubeck albums
Fantasy Records albums
1960s instrumental albums