Q (3/95, p.112) - 4 Stars (out of 5) - "...Whilst other jazz innovators mapped out new harmonic and melodic realms, Brubeck and his band were forging time signatures anew, giving the music the wonky grace of a gazelle running the 200 metre hurdles..."
Mojo (Publisher) (12/99, p.131) - "...superb remastering puts you in the room and brings out all the shimmer of Joe Morello's drums. Jazz-lite it may be, but jazz-lite has seldom been bettered."
Dave Brubeck Quartet: Dave Brubeck (piano); Paul Desmond (alto saxophone); Eugene Wright (bass); Joe Morello (drums).
Recorded at Columbia 30th Street Studios, New York, New York on June 25, July 1 & August 18, 1959. Includes liner notes by Dave Brubeck and Steve Race.
Second only to Jazz Samba by Stan Getz, as the most commercially successful jazz record of all time (it even contained a single for the pop charts, Paul Desmond's magnificent 'Take Five'), Brubeck brilliantly popularized jazz and offered it as a palatable alternative to Bobby Vee. This album sold by the trunkload and made Brubeck a popular star. Those jazz critics who shunned him for becoming too commercial must eat their words, as this is a monumental album of the finest modern jazz. 'Blue Rondo A La Turk' and 'Kathy's Waltz' demonstrate this man's graceful, nonchalant class.