Time Out & Time Further Out (2LP VINYL SET)

The ‘Time Out’ album presented here was recorded in three sessions between June and August the following year: we feature it in both mono and stereo versions, the latter format having just been introduced. The album was produced by Teo Macero at Columbia’s 30th Street Studio in New York City. The title, a play on words, refers not only to a period of relaxation, but also alludes to the use of time signatures that were ‘out’ or non-standard. The album was experimental and Columbia’s president Goddard Lieberson took a chance in allowing it to be released. ‘Time Out’ was not well received by critics at the time, but the record-buying public knew better. The LP went platinum – the first jazz album to sell more than a million records – and hit Number 2 on the pop chart (Number 11 in Britain). It would establish the Quartet and help propel jazz firmly into mainstream culture. ‘Take Five’ became a Top 40 hit single, peaking at Number 25 on the Billboard pop chart and reaching the Top 5 on the adult contemporary chart. The only track on the album penned by Paul Desmond, it would go on to become a mainstay in television and movies and is still often heard today. It reached Number 6 in Britain, where the Daily Telegraph’s obituary called Brubeck ‘one of the most famous jazz musicians of the 20th century, adding that ‘his recording of “Take Five” remains one of the few jazz records instantly recognised by members of the general public.’