The discography of Dave Brubeck presents an intriguing challenge for the collector who becomes a Brubeck completist. There is an obvious starting point: The Time Out LP, featuring "Take Five," probably introduced most listeners today to the Brubeck Quartet, likely followed by the other "Time" series albums. But after that...the choice of a path to follow can be daunting. Brubeck's recording career started in the very late 1940s, right about the same time as the birth of the LP. That means it's not as confusing as, say, trying to complete a Duke Ellington collection on record, since Ellington had three decades of work when a record was two sides of a 78 RPM disc. But in the staggering number of albums released during his lifetime, and the number of different musical directions he followed over the years, Brubeck (also a celebrated jazz pianist and composer) is right behind The Duke.
Brubeck's early recording career paralleled the beginnings of the Fantasy Records label, and is by far the toughest period to decipher, all these years later. Initial releases were 78 only, some of which eventually started also showing up on 45 rpm singles. These singles were repackaged on 10-inch LPs, and other new material was specifically recorded as albums. Some of these 10-inch albums, confusingly, used the same title and sometimes even the same art for different collections. (For example, there are three 10-inch albums titled Distinctive Rhythm Instrumentals.) Fantasy repackaged the 10-inch albums in the mid-1950s as 12-inch LPs, sometimes with an extra song or two, sometimes with the 10-inch versions combined in a new incarnation. A chunk of the Fantasy recordings resurfaced in the late '70s and early '80s repackaged yet again in double LPs sets, shortly before some of the 1950s 12-inch LP versions re-emerged as part of the indispensable Original Jazz Classics series. Long story short, if you run across a pile of Brubeck Fantasy records in the bins, it's pretty easy to buy the same recordings two or three times without noticing it until you get home.
For those who want to get a sense of where Brubeck and company started without attempting to wade through the discography, there is a one-stop option on LP that makes for a great overview of the Fantasy period and is also likely to be very affordable as well. Featuring an incongruous 1970s photo of Brubeck on the cover, Early Fantasies is a three-record set issued by Book-of-the-Month Club in 1980. Don't pooh-pooh the record club origins in this case; the set was compiled and sequenced by Brubeck himself, and also features extensive (and entertaining) notes written by him about the early bands on these recordings. Included from 1948-53 are a side by the Octet; two sides each of work by the Trio and Quartet; and a final side of solo piano by Brubeck, recorded for Fantasy in 1956 even though the Quartet was signed to Columbia. All selections are in mono, as recorded.
For jazz fans who haven't encountered BOMC-issued records before — or who have ignored them as club issues — they tend to be a great value for what you are likely to pay for them (these days usually not much). As a dedicated bargain hunter, I actually tend to seek them out over originals; the pressings are usually high quality, and they did not skimp on the mastering, either. This Brubeck set is uniformly as good as I've heard these recordings sound, and that includes the '80s OJC albums in the collection. I can't be held responsible if it sends you down the rabbit hole searching for the rest of Brubeck's early work, however. (Book-of-the-Month Records 80-5547, 1980)
