Jazz Goes to College is a 1954 album documenting the North American college tour of The Dave Brubeck Quartet. Joining Brubeck are Paul Desmond, Bob Bates and Joe Dodge, whose support All Music calls "uniformly flawless" in a "perfect representation" of the quartet's early work. The album was re-released on CD and cassette under the Columbia imprint in 1991 and on CD by Sony International in 2000.

History

The college tour, in which the group crossed the country visiting major universities and junior colleges, was conceived by Brubeck's wife Lola as a way to introduce jazz to a new audience. Brubeck described encountering resistance at the colleges, some of which were reluctant to allow him to perform, but found following initial forays that the quartet was in much demand. As the quartet traveled across the country, he told the Jazz Education Journal, they would play as many as 90 colleges in a four month period.

Following the album's release, the quartet was featured on the cover of Time Magazine, with the accompanying article describing Brubeck as "the most exciting new jazz artist at work today". According to a 1972 Time article, the album enjoyed widespread popularity among college students in the 1950s and early 1960s.

A follow-up album documenting other parts of the tour, Jazz Goes to Junior College, was released in 1957.

Track listing

Location of recording, where known, included in parentheses following composer.

1. "Balcony Rock" (Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond) (University of Michigan) – 11:55
2. "Out of Nowhere" (Johnny Green, Edward Heyman) (University of Cincinnati) – 8:04
3. "Le Souk" (Brubeck, Desmond) (Oberlin College, Ohio) – 4:36
4. "Take the 'A' Train" (Billy Strayhorn) – 6:11
5. "The Song Is You" (Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern) – 5:38
6. "Don't Worry 'Bout Me" (Rube Bloom, Ted Koehler) – 8:47
7. "I Want to be Happy" (Irving Caesar, Vincent Youmans) – 6:36

Personnel

• George Avakian – producer, liner notes
• Bob Bates – double bass
• Dave Brubeck – piano
• Paul Desmond – alto saxophone
• Joe Dodge – drums

References