For reasons that aren't clear, this is one of the more often overlooked albums in
Dave Brubeck
's
Columbia Records
catalog of the early '60s. It's certainly less well known than
Stan Kenton
's very different 1961 album of music from
West Side Story
, and also less unified, as it also reaches out to the score for
Wonderful Town
and back to 1930s Broadway. And none of that means that it isn't a lot of fun and well worth hearing, with
"Maria"
done as a swinging, uptempo ballad, while
"Tonight"
becomes a jumping-off point for all concerned into a jazz excursion across several decades' worth of tunes. By contrast,
"What Is This Thing Called Love?"
is done in a slow, pensively lyrical, lilting fashion.
Paul Desmond
's playing shines every bit as much as
Brubeck
's, and the whole record -- including the
Cole Porter
and
Rodgers & Hart
material -- swings in some unexpected directions that still delight four-plus decades later. ~ Bruce Eder