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40th Anniversary Tour of the U.K.
Label: Telarc
Year: 1998
Released on LP: No
Released on CD: Yes
Tracks
1. Someday My Prince Will Come
2. The Time of Our Madness
3. Oh You Can Run (But You Can't Hide)
4. In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town
5. I Got Rhythm
6. Deep Purple
7. All of Me
8. The Salmon Strikes
9. Goodbye Old Friend
Personnel
Dave Brubeck (piano)Bobby Militello (alto sax)
Alec Dankworth (bass)
Randy Jones (drums)
Notes
1. Recorded live.
Reviews
Jazz Times Review
Deliberate. In listening to Dave Brubeck for the past 20 years, I would define his performance as deliberate. Brubeck’s playing is always well thought out and delivered. This current disc makes no break from this summation. Mr. Brubeck swings with a effortless ease that barely betrays Brubeck’s careful craftsmanship. The 40th Anniversary Tour of The U.K. is very much a Dave Brubeck disc and is in keeping with his most recent Teldec releases.
The Nonet?. Ted Gioia in his book West Coast Jazz spends many pages describing the importance of Brubeck’s octet recordings originally released on Fantasy (F-3-239, 1946/OJCCD-101-2, 1991). These recordings predated Miles’ Nonet recordings by three years, but it is apparent that they were both heading in the same direction. Brubeck’s music here is very deliberate. It swings, but in a stilted, planned sort of way. The years since then have softened Brubeck’s approach and thereby providing music of great grace but not possessing the white-hot creativity of his early recordings.
The disc standouts are the opener, “Someday My Prince Will Come” and “Deep Purple”. These songs perfectly describe the late Brubeck: confident, deliberate, swinging. Both contain exception musicianship on the entire quartet’s part emphasizing in particular Brubeck and alto saxophonist Bobby Militello. Militello’s tone is ice dry and his phrasing is linear and sensible. But then again, Brubeck would have had it no other way. The band quietly swings through standards, providing a pleasant and thoroughly enjoyable set.
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All About Jazz review - copyright
This album, commemorating the Dave Brubeck Quartet's first tour of England in 1958 with a return visit, isn't simply an excursion in nostalgia. Recorded live at three consecutive concerts, the album opens with a memorable reprise of "Someday My Prince Will Come." Then agile altoist Bobby Militello fuels a new tango-influenced chart, "The Time of Our Madness." A terrific blues in the expected Brubeck locked-hands style, "Oh You Can Run (But You Can't Hide)," features a strong solo by top English bassist Alec Dankworth and the perfect percussion of fellow Brit Randy Jones.
Brubeck leads a superlative swing version of "In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town," then burns his brand onto Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm." Gently swinging ballad entries are "Deep Purple" and "All of Me," preceding a huge change of pace, the 12-tone theme of "The Salmon Strikes." The closing track is Brubeck's touching tribute to Gerry Mulligan, "Goodbye, Old Friend," recorded solo in an empty auditorium before the concert began. After 40 years, Brubeck's creative genius continues his contributions of rhythmic complexity and remarkable improvisation.
All Music Guide – Review – copyright
Forty years after his classic quartet's first triumphant tour of the U.K. in 1958, Dave Brubeck took his then current group back for an anniversary visit, playing a mixed bag of old and new songs for fans both old and new. This time out, Brubeck's working quartet included two British natives, drummer Randy Jones and bassist Alec Dankworth (the son of British jazz superstars Cleo Laine and John Dankworth).
Brubeck himself was the obvious draw for the crowds, but it's saxman Bobby Militello who is truly the musical star of the show. The highly regarded Militello shows he can roam across the entire spectrum of alto saxophone tonality, employing a light, delicate tone à la Paul Desmond one minute, then bearing down for some gritty, deep-throated improvisations the next. Brubeck's unmistakable pianism remains as identifiable as ever, comping and soloing with the same energy he undoubtedly had 40 years earlier. "Goodbye Old Friend," his solo farewell to friend Gerry Mulligan, is beautiful.
The new material is more interesting than the older stuff, with Brubeck's tango "The Time of Our Madness" and blues-inflected "Oh You Can Run (But You Can't Hide)" particular standouts. However, Militello enlivens even the old warhorse "I Got Rhythm," and Brubeck himself digs fresh ideas out of "Deep Purple."
Jim Newsom
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