Dave Brubeck: Jazz Impressions Of Japan

Piano - Dave Brubeck Alto Sax - Paul Desmond Bass - Eugene Wright Drums - Joe Morello

1. Tokyo Traffic 2. Rising Sun 3. Toki's Theme 4. Fujiyama 5. Zen Is When 6. The City Is Crying 7. Osaka Blues 8. Koto Song

Thirteen years into their tenure, the Dave Brubeck Quartet was still able to mine the creative vein for new means of expression. Despite the hits and popularity on college campuses, or perhaps because of it, Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Eugene Wright, and Joe Morello composed a restless band with a distinctive sound. These eight tracks, all based on a tour of Japan the year before, were, in a sense, Brubeck fulfilling a dictum from his teacher, the French composer Darius Milhaud, who exhorted him to "travel the world and keep your ears open." 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.

Price: $12.98