Dave Brubeck's - Greatest Hits - [CD]

While greatest-hits CDs abound, Dave Brubeck has been one of the few modern-jazz musicians to have actually enjoyed an occasional hit record. This CD compiles material from Brubeck's Columbia recordings of the 1950s and 1960s, revealing his deft combination of modernist harmony and unusual time signatures with the immediately accessible. Whether it's his own fine song "In Your Own Sweet Way" or Stephen Foster's "Camptown Races," his homage to Duke Ellington or the Mozart-inspired "Blue Rondo," Brubeck balances his taste for innovation with traditional melodic values. The quartet with altoist Paul Desmond was Brubeck's finest instrument. Desmond's gauzy sound and fluent improvisations provided effective contrast to Brubeck's own assertive, slightly stiff piano playing, and drummer Joe Morello smoothed out the most challenging rhythms. Desmond's "Take Five" has become a jazz standard, and this once-controversial music now conveys a special period charm. --Stuart Broomer