“Jazz at Oberlin” – Dave Brubeck Quartet

Album: Jazz at Oberlin

Artist: Dave Brubeck Quartet

Year: 1953

Genre: Cool Jazz

Grade: A

The Dave Brubeck Quartet’s performance at Oberlin College on March 2, 1953 is one of the most iconic jazz concerts of all time, up there with Ellington at Newport and The Quintet’s Jazz at Massey Hall. The playing is so powerful and energetic — and perfect; this is some of the best musicianship on record — it feels like you’re right there in the crowd.

Brubeck’s band possesses the tight, old-school intricacy of a swing ensemble. Together, drummer Lloyd Davis and bassist Ron Crotty provide an understated rhythmic propulsion, over which Brubeck and Paul Desmond trade off dazzling piano and alto sax solos, respectively — probably some of the greatest ever heard up to that point. It’s only right that the crowd emphatically cheers after every single one.

That’s another reason why Jazz at Oberlin is so special: that audible enthusiasm. Listening to this record, we share the same space as those concertgoers back in 1953. When Brubeck delivers that stunning block-chord showstopper in “How High the Moon” — one of the best piano solos of all time — the reaction from the crowd is one of delirious glee. They can hardly contain their excitement, and I’m sure our reaction would be no different. Listening with headphones over 70 years later, the music makes me want to stand up and clap. Easily one of Brubeck’s greatest albums.

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