The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Jazz Impressions Of Japan mp3 download

Jazz Impressions of Japan is a 1964 album by The Dave Brubeck Quartet. It was recorded on June 16–17, 1964 at the legendary CBS 30th Street Studio, except for "Zen Is When" which was recorded on January 30, 1960. It was released on August 10, 1964. The album, as the back cover of the remastered CD confirms, had been long out-of-print until it was reissued on CD in 2001, then re-released in 2008 and 2009.

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. 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.

The album consists of 8 tracks running 35:08. 2 people found this helpful.

Dave Brubeck has always been able to effectively communicate with the average "Joe. His compositions bring a spark of recognition. It's jazz, but with an underlying meaning easy enough to comprehend at first listen. Stereotypes enter the picture when particular harmonies are employed or when distinctive rhythms dance freely. Brubeck had carried a sketchpad with him on the quartet's tour of Japan earlier that year. On the sketchpad, he had made detailed notes about his impressions and related musical themes that he intended to pursue. Naturally, the music contains temple blocks, gongs, open harmony and contrapuntal forms of impressionism. In Brubeck's original liner notes to the album, he says, "In their own 'pop' music, the Japanese seem to parody themselves, using parallel fourths and other Western ideas of how the Oriental should sound, performed with a 'Rock-a-Billy' beat.