I fell in love with jazz slowly.
At first, I was introduced to \”fusion jazz,\” which grabbed from rock, funk and R&B music to create this smooth, sometimes syncopated, progressive sound. I enjoyed listening to musicians who were just insanely talented like Dave Weckl, a drummer who played like he literally had eight arms, or John Patitucci, who played a fretless electric bass like a maestro.
But I didn\’t get HOOKED on jazz to the point where I was listening to it at home until a friend let me hear \”Time Out.\” Not only was there the staccato rhythms and odd time signatures that I loved in fusion, but there was also an unassailable cool that I couldn\’t resist.
My first listen to this record was like a full-contact high. \”Blue Rondo a la Turk,\” starts off with this crazy 2+2+2+3 time signature, and then settles into a laid-back shuffle that feels seamless. \”Strange Meadow Lark\” is a beautiful, chill ballad, followed by one of the coolest jazz songs ever, \”Take Five,\” that absolutely swings in 5/4 time.
The back half of the record is just as fun and whimsical. \”Three to Get Ready\” alternates between two stanzas of 3/4 time and then 4/4 time.\”Kathy\’s Waltz,\” features a Brubeck piano solo that sounds COMPLETELY disconnected from the rest of the song, only to slide right back in as if he never left. \”Everybody\’s Jumpin\’\” feels more restrained than it sounds, but still has moments of almost spastic piano and crescendos, and \”Pick Up Sticks\” swings with the same cool and bravado as \”Take Five.\”
Dave Brubeck was my gateway drug into Miles Davis, Ramsey Lewis, Gerry Mulligan, Charlie Parker and other \’50s bop-jazz greats, and by the time I got into college, hip-hop was soaked in jazz, too, so it seemed like I was surrounded by it all the time.
Not that I minded.
Whether it\’s chopped up and laced over a Clyde Stubblefield breakbeat or left alone to swing as intended, cool jazz is a singular experience, and \”Time Out,\” in my opinion, is one of the best of its kind.