Time Out
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
1959
Album Summary
Time Out is a studio album by the American jazz group the Dave Brubeck Quartet, released in 1959 on Columbia Records. Recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City, it is based upon the use of time signatures that were unusual for jazz such as 98, 64 and 54. The album is a subtle blend of cool and West Coast jazz.The album peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard pop albums chart, and was the first jazz album to sell a million copies. The single "Take Five" off the album was also the first jazz single to sell one million copies. By 1963, the record had sold 500,000 units, and in 2011 it was certified double platinum by the RIAA, signifying over two million records sold. The album was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2009. The album was selected, in 2005, for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
WikipediaDo ya like jazz? Do ya like other people knowing you like jazz? Then play Time Out at your nearest social gathering and tell everyone that you enjoy odd time signatures and polyrhythms while you tap your feet to one of the most played jazz tunes ever. You're not normal, you're weird in all the right ways! Lol all joking aside, I fucking love this album, and why shouldn't I? Just like with the Beatles, the reason so many people like the music is because it is genuinely incredible, and Dave Brubeck does it here too. One gripe though - whenever I play this album, I always get a twinge of "maybe I should be playing some jazz by a black artist instead" simply because I've found myself listening to a lot of jazz by white guys. But that doesn't detract from the songs. Unsquare Dance is my favorite here.
This is (probably) the ultimate Cool Jazz record. Something you put on and sip a martini and cook a steak to. You can really hear the West Coast laid back playing on this as opposed to the busy New York playing that was coming out of Blue Note (although this was recorded in NYC). It produced 3 jazz standards just on the first side for goodness sake. Favorite song: Take Five and Blue Rondo à la Turk Least favorite song: don’t really have one
It was nice. I’m sure if I understood music theory it would be really interesting. But I’m stupid.
I don’t have anything smart to say, for whatever reason I had never really listening to Dave Brubeck before this and I definitely need to spend more time checking his music out cuz this was great.
Before I give my thoughts I want to honor the fact that jazz music was traditionally a black musical style that some white people liked and became famous with in places that many black musicians were not allowed to go. That being said- I really like this Jazz album- I was very productive listening to it because jazz piano is my favorite.
Smoked a joint and listened to this on vinyl and reading the jacket notes. Got lost in the music. Take 5 is a masterpiece. Put on Miles in a Silent Way after, I don't listen to my jazz collection enough, but I digress. Time Out is a 5.
I had no idea what to expect but definitely found myself loving it. During the opening to the first track I had a hard time believing it's a 50's jazz track as it sounded much more like the opening to a 80's prog rock or progressive metal track. The rest of the album sounded more like I imagined highly technical cool jazz to sound like. But unlike other examples of this style I never felt bored with it. Just really good music to have playing which is both excellent in the background and for the occasional more intense listening during the particularly playful segments. Will save this one to re-listen for sure.
Another watershed jazz album. Brubeck's playing is complex and experiments with time signatures of various more 'exotic' influences. This coupled with Paul Desmond's acrobatic saxophone playing make this album groundbreaking and approachable.
Made somewhat cliche by time and popularity but a great record, with far more complexity and nuance than maybe it gets credit for
Such a great album. Everything about this reeks of hep cat coolness...but in a good way! And Joe Morello's ride cymbal on "Take Five" is unparalleled. It doesn't quite make it to four stars for me because I'm not a jazz guy. 3 1/2 would be more like it.
I listen to this frequently, especially when cooking. It's a ground breaking, fun listening album
A timeless gem, one of my favorite jazz albums of them all, I'd give it six stars if I could!
I feel like a broken record (heh) on these, but I have loved all the instrumental albums not by Miles Davis. I've heard a lot of these before but never as an album. Great stuff.
Fan-fuckin-tastic. First album on this site that I immediately listened to again. Blue Rhondo and Take Five are of course classics but there is so much incredible music made with incredible writing and incredible musicianship. Love it.
Take Five is a groove that has been stuck in my head off and on for over a decade. This is one of my favorite jazz albums of all time and I love the whole record front to back. It just has a timeless bit of soul to it, and always sounds fresh and new.
The definition of jazz sound, the definition of cool jazz, bit restrained, but cool anyway
only recognized Time Out, but the whole album was great. I don't enjoy all Jazz, but this really speaks to the best of what older jazz groups can do!
Odd to find a Jazz song that I recognize and know that name of but a pleasant surprise. A nice listen throughout and speaks to a more impactful song with Take Five being the most successful album of all time
Haven't had time to listen to this today, but my Dad introduced me to it as a kid. He loved Take Five. It's brilliant, it uses complicated time signatures but makes them poppy. Genius.
Oh this is a sneaky one. I listened to this and immediately thought it was gonna be boring so it faded into the background, and then as I listened it crept to the forefront. Incredible storytelling here.
A classic of cool jazz, and jazz as a greater whole. Dave Brubeck is so precise on the keys that he sounds like a MIDI file, and the rest of the team backs him up superbly, particularly Desmond and Morello on the highlight Take Five.
Take Five was definitely great (the seemingly most popular) Katherine told me it's in 9/8, which, means nothing to me other than it must be complex. However, I think my favourite song by far was Pick Up Sticks. I found myself stopping what I was doing to just listen which is my favourite moment when listening to music. When it transcends other activities.
I have known "time out" my whole life, but the first track, "Blue Rondo à la Turk" was amazing! thankful to finally hear the full album.
Never heard of this band before but I felt I listened to the first track, Blue Rando a la Turk, in a film. After a Google search, it appears that this song has been included in many films' soundtrack - including, Wedding Crashers and Next Stop Greenwich Village.
I've heard people refer to this as the jazz album for people that hate jazz. My dad bought me this "white guys play jazz" album when I was in high school and I wore this thing out. For the record, I'm white, and I'd like to think I like jazz, but in reality... notsomuch. Anyway, Time Out has been a guilty pleasure of mine in the past. Though, I feel less guilty about it as time has moved on. (To put this in perspective, It's not like Counting Crows-guilty pleasure which is now just an embarrassment). Evidently, this is a quintessential 'Cool Jazz' album. [side note] One of my favorite t-shirts I had when I was a kid had an illustration of a Saxophone with music notes flying out of it and a headline that read "Smooth Jazz Blows" DB is pretty amazing, when I hear this album, I imagine the guys at Doyle Dane Bernbach and George Nelson sitting around smoking and drinking Martinis joking around laughing and getting ready to watch Playboy's Penthouse, which at that time was pretty cool, but by today's standards, almost cringeworthy. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel did a great job of recreating a similar scene in an episode, "Comedy vs. Cabbage," I think. Regardless of the associations, the music is still great.
Being recommended this album is one of the reasons I'm already a fan of 1001albumsgenerator...love how this album switched up my day
My family used to listen to this CD in the car all the times and Take Five is one of my dad's favorite songs, so this album has heavy nostalgic power for me! The music is so masterful and wonderful <<chef's kiss>>
I've had this album for a while and I really enjoy it. Definitely a jazz staple. Everyone knows the one song, but I realized I knew at least one other song, thanks to ELP. At first the songs feel a little... clinical, but once I got into it it was great. Probably Blue Rondo is my favorite of the whole 7. Really it's hard to believe that the band can have such different moods, but they really do get there. A definite must for any jazz fan.
Even this perpetual jazz neophyte can hear how peerless this is. The one instantly recognizable piece took on greate depth and nuance for me in its proper context here.
It's a total jazz staple, with one of the best, most iconic jazz songs of all time leading the way.
Excellent to focus on something important to do, besides creating a good ambiance at work.
It had my at 9/8 timing. Such an interesting album with other cool time signatures too. The arrangements and are great and I can see it being one of those ones I keep coming back to and discovering new little intricacies.
This is a really great album! And it's a great introduction to jazz if you're new to it. both experimenting with time signatures while keeping the easy listening Cool Jazz vibe. A really Iconic Jazz album
ma baš volin ovaj jazz, super su mi! podsjeća me na vrimena iz glazbene pa postanen nostalgicna slusajuci 💛
One of the first jazz albums to come into my possession. This could be seen as 'baby's first jazz' in some respects, as it's a light, clean listen with enough toe-tappers for popular appeal. However, even repeated exposure to 'Take Five' hasn't dimmed its lustre. There's a high degree of sophistication at play here - Brubeck was influenced by the rhythms of Balkan and Bulgarian folk music, so 'Take Five', 'Blue Rondo...' step outside of 4/4 time and take the cool paradigm into slippery places. Five stars all the way, I spin this one frequently.
Blue Rondo A La Turk is such a fun time piece. This is the home of the complete door busting hit Take Five. Damn this album is good.
Ahhh, un classique du jazz avec probablement la chanson en 5 la plus connue au monde. Je reviens souvent à cet album.
One of my all time favourite albums and maybe the only jazz album I really like. The groove of about every track totally gets me. Dave Brubecks simple piano style is great and Joe Morello is phantastic on the drums (e.g. on take five, which they basically created primarily for the drum solo, and I find it ironic when radios cut the song before the solo).
Smmmmmooooothhhh jazz. Great stuff, imagine being a dark smoke hazed lounge bobbing my head to this.
Honestly one of my favorite jazz albums/groups. Take five would be overrated if it weren't so good. Paul Desmond really gets to shine without over shadowing anyone else. Also I'm just a sucker for anything outside of 4/4 and 3/4
Four profoundly talented, creative, and meticulous musicians, each making it sound effortless. I appreciate that this album is extremely accessible, but that it's does that without compromising richness and complexity. You could listen to each track 10 times in a row and still discover new fills and trills with every playthrough.
Very cool. I don’t hate jazz, I hate shrill & stressful trumpets, but the sax on this is smooth and mellow and lovely. It’s both accessible and challenging with the recognisable hooks but crazy time signatures. Good stuff.
What can you say about one of the greatest Jazz albums of all time? Blue Rondo is a personal favorite ever since I played it in high school Jazz band.
Automatic fiver here. Love Dave Brubeck, and this has some of his most signature classics. Opening with "Blue Rondo a la Turk" is enough to let you know you're in for a great ride. I think Brubeck's the pianist, but man, shoutout to whoever is on sax because the sax cuts through these tracks like a hot knife through butter. For me, this is quintessential smooth jazz. I'll always be reminded of that Malcolm in the Middle episode where Hal finds the old bomb shelter in the backyard and hides down there drinking scotch, talking to a portrait of JFK, and listening to "Take Five." Love, love, love it. Favorite tracks: Take Five, Blue Rondo a la Turk, Strange Meadow Lark, Pick Up Sticks, basically all of it. Album art: One of the many jazz albums with the sort of "framed abstract art" concept for the cover, and I really like it. The art is excellent, the text font and colors are bold. It's simple and informative, but very memorable. 5/5
I know many of my favorite albums won't make it on this list and that's fine. Art is subjective so I can see how British well to do's may not think a lot of American bands/people that I like are worthy of this list. But this album...this album was one I knew would show up from the very beginning. One of my favorite jazz albums of all time. I still remember purchasing this cd at Hastings back in Greeley during college and just jamming to Take Five, Blue Rondo, and all the rest as I cruised around campus. This is a fantastic jazz album that has moments of calm and relaxation and moments of frenetic anxiety. All the best parts of what a jazz album should be. I even used Take Five as my alarm during those years. What a perfect kick off to the week.
iconic odd-meter cool jazz. gateway Eames chair lounge lounge music. a timeless album (pun intended)
I'm not a jazz aficionado by any stretch, but I know what I like. I like this album and now know it belongs to the cool jazz genre. Cool.
If you look in the dictionary for the definition of "cool", it will say "Time Out by The Dave Brubeck Quartet" 😎
Classic alert! I used to love playing the piano parts of this as a kid. I always enjoy some unusual time signatures, and they work so well here
Great performances by four talented musicians of unique and well-written jazz compositions… hits a lot of spots for me
One of my favorite go-to jazz albums with the most recognizable jazz tune of all-time. This is cool cat jazz. Smooth & hip. Excellent album.
Shimmers in its understated brilliance, popular this may have been but this in no way detracts from its status as high art. The recording is exquisite, the sophistication in the playing extraordinary. An album to repeat and find new things or to just enjoy and absorb, Time Out is special.
10/10 This might just be the best jazz album I’ve ever heard Dave Brubeck really did a lot for jazz and I love hearing albums like this where he can casually show off how much of a genius he is
08/27/2022 This album is very special to me for a number of reasons. Take Five was the first jazz recording that I ever heard back in third grade when my elementary school did a program called music memory. We were played sound bytes of different famous recordings and this was one of them. I have loved this recording since 2007-2008. Nearly 15 years of love. Fast forward to the future, I fell in love with the entire album after working at my university’s radio station that played jazz in the afternoons. I was the DJ for the 3-5 hour on Mondays or Wednesdays. Became familiar w many more songs and the style of Dave brubeck’s players because of this. — Today was super chill, I finally got to run some errands. Ran to target, had a great time getting lunch stuff and other little fun items. Came back and made myself a nice lil dinner and then just watched Netflix and crocheted.
One of the first jazz records I purchased. I was asking my piano teacher about odd time signatures (specifically Genesis Firth of Fifth) and he suggested I listen to Take Five. I never understood the strong push back from some purists to this one. It not only has the innovative time signatures. The playing is superb and the songs are creative. Pity there are not additional stars.
Not sure what I can say about this album that hasn't already been said. It's an absolute classic and has been played in my house for as long as I can remember, even the cover art sticks out in my earliest memories of music. For sure one of the best Jazz albums of all time!
honestly the more jazz i listen to the cooler it gets. for a while i was just kinda averse to horns because i didnt like how they sounded but obviously thats not a problem anymore. then for a while after listening to kind of blue i was just like yeah thats pretty good maybe ill get into jazz someday. and i still dont think ive rly taken the plunge but thats fine, not everything has to be this huge-ass binge. maybe one day ill look back and realize oh shit! im a big jazz fan now! and make like fifty lists thatre just like The Best Jazz Albums Of 2034. Greatest Saxophonists Of The 2020s? Who Said Jazz Is Dead!?!?!?!? this album isnt my fav thing ever but its pretty consistent. i paid a little more attention this time around and im more impressed but not more of a fan necessarily, its cool but probably half of this album isn't mindblowing or anything. the other half also isnt mindblowing but its better. kathys waltz and everybodys jumpin are lots of fun, that one build-up in the second half of pick up sticks is euphoric, take five is mysterious and catchy. the pure drum+piano part is a liiittle long for me since im not big on drum solos but the horn part (idk what type of horn it is :() is perfect!!
I feel like this should have been my introduction to jazz. It was cool, it was funky, and it was easy to listen to.
Listened to before. Blue Rondo A la Turk and Take Five are great. A good introduction to Jazz.
Muito muito interessante. Estudar os ritmos (time signatures) não usuais que usaram. Produção e timbres perfeitos
Pretty chill jazz record, got the iconic "Take Five" on it, however that should not discredit other tracks like "Blue Rondo a la Turk" and "Pick Up Sticks"
Great album! Very playful, and very cool. I love the weird time signatures, but it never makes it hard to listen.
A very pop music record. I can see why folks like my jazz teacher looked down on stuff like Blue Rondo. But if you’re college age cooking dinner for a date, can you do better than putting this on? Probably not.
I won't even pretend to have enough knowledge of Jazz to give it a proper rating. It's a 3.5 up to 4 for listening purposes, but I know a few of these songs are so iconic I'd imagine this is objectively a 5, but for my personal tastes I can't quite go there. No surprise, but Take Five is my favorite.
Actually know a few songs on this album. Might be the first Jazz album I've ever listened to in its entirety. So the rating might reflect that: B-
Great album, with some monster songs in terms of cultural presence, not the least of which "Take Five." I haven't said this about an album yet, but I actually wished it was longer. The band sounds great and it felt like they were just warming up.
I love Dave Brubeck. He was one of the first that showed me how important time signatures were and how atypical time could be so intriguing.
Top quality cool jazz! Fave track - while "Time Out" is a classic, I'm gonna pick "Blue Rondo à la Turk" for the playfulness!
I actually had this album in high school. It might be white people jazz, but I love it. It's just so pleasant to listen to. Unimposing yet engaging. Great work day album.
Classic Brubeck, couple of bangers but probably matched my tastes a decade ago more than now. Still a pleasure to listen to.
Great! A bit repetitive for me but I guess it's because i'm not used to listen to jazz. But it's really really good!
Love Dave Brubeck. I throw him on every now and then for cooking or doing work, and this album has some great tracks. This was great background music, actually finished a book while listening.
Muss bei solchen Sachen, insbesondere wenn sie am Sonntag aufgegeben werden, immer aufpassen, sie nicht einfach als schöne Sonntagsunterhaltungsmusik wegzuhören. Weil: dazu eignen sie sich - so wie auch das hier - ja ganz hervorragend. Im direkten Vergleich mit dem neulich gehörten "Birth of the Cool" von Miles Davis aus demselben Jahr (glaube ich) finde ich das hier entschiedener, mehr bei sich. Bunter auch, vielfarbig gewissermaßen. Nicht so cool, sondern eher ... warm? Und dann noch mit DEM Tophit der Jazzmusik. Also mir gefällts richtig gut, da ist locker ne 3,7 drin.
Je häufiger sie mal eben durchläuft, desto mehr Aufmerksamkeit bekommt diese Scheibe jedes Mal. War sie Sonntags früh eine Art stiller Kompagnon zum Fensterputz so ist sie heut der Regen auf den Glasscheiben. Die neue Story auf einem frischen Blatt Papier. 3.9
Some classics! I recognized and especially enjoyed both Take Five and Blue Rondo a la Turk
Okay, generally liked this whole jazz album. It was more clearly defined and melodic, very chill. I really like Take Five (although I didn't know the song's name or artist until now)
‘Blue Rondo à la Turk’ was fantastic, lively, energetic; it was everything you could have wanted from a jazz song. I actually recognised ‘Take Five’ which I was not expecting!
Take Five is just so good. Never gets old. The rest also quite nice, like Kathy's Waltz how it combines a straight ahead beat with 3/4 piano.
Estoy sorprendida que este álbum se hiciera a partir de la improvisación, ya que los artistas tienen mucha química. Además es un genero de música que lo odias o te encanta. Mis canciones favs: - take five -Kathy ´s waltz - Pick up Sticks
I'm not musical enough to recognise experimental time signatures. To me, this sounds like a cool, fun, chilled jazz album, which is the kind of jazz I enjoy. Recorded in 1959, but sounds timeless. It seems like the group achieved exactly what they set out to do. I can't fault it. 4/5.
'Take Five' was played by a friend's group during college, it's nice to hear it again ^^