Countdown—Time in Outer Space
{{Infobox album
| name = Countdown—Time in Outer Space
| type = studio
| artist = Dave Brubeck Quartet
| cover = CountdownTimeinOuterSpace.JPG
| alt =
| released = 1962
| recorded = May 3, 1961 – February 12, 1962{{cite web |url=http://www.jazzdisco.org/dave-brubeck/discography/ |title=Dave Brubeck Discography |publisher=Jazz Discography Project|access-date=July 22, 2013}}
| venue =
| studio =
| genre = Cool jazz
| length = 37:52
| label = Columbia
| producer = Teo Macero
| prev_title =
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{{Album ratings
| rev1 = Allmusic
| rev2 = Louise D. Stone (The Afro-American)
| rev2Score = {{Rating|4|5}} {{cite news |title=The Jazz Bit |first=Louise D. |last=Stone |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fNMmAAAAIBAJ&pg=3563,2324812&dq=countdown-time-in-outer-space&hl=en |newspaper=The Afro-American |date=May 26, 1962 |page=12 |access-date=July 22, 2013}}
| rev3 = Down Beat
| rev3Score = {{Rating|4|5}}Down Beat: August 16, 1962 vol. 29, no. 22
}}
Countdown—Time in Outer Space is a studio album released by the Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1962 on Columbia LP record CS 8575 (stereo) and CL 1775 (mono).{{cite news |title=Spotlight Albums of the Week|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1RMEAAAAMBAJ&dq=Countdown+Time+in+Outer+Space&pg=PA24 |newspaper=Billboard |date=May 5, 1962 |page=24|access-date=21 July 2013}} The front cover features the 1959 painting Orange and Black Wall by Franz Kline.{{Cite book|title=Designed for hi-fi living : the vinyl LP in midcentury America|last=Borgerson|first=Janet|publisher=MIT Press|others=Schroeder, Jonathan E., 1962-, Miller, Daniel, 1954-|year=2017|isbn=9780262036238|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|pages=86–88|oclc=958205262}} In Australia the album appeared on the Coronet label.{{cite news |title= Dave Brubeck; More Rhythm Experiments |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=74RVAAAAIBAJ&pg=4320,4248055&dq=countdown-time-in-outer-space&hl=en |newspaper=The Age|location=Melbourne, Australia|date=June 29, 1962|page=4 |access-date=July 22, 2013}} It was re-released, for the first time in digital format,{{cite news |title=JAZZ SPOTLIGHT; Venerable building blocks for an impressive library; Decades of excellence are captured in classy collections this year|first=Don |last=Heckman|newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=December 12, 2004 |page=E.56}} in 2004 as part of a compact disc collection titled Dave Brubeck: For All Time.{{cite news |title= Stuff To Do, To Buy, To Talk About|author= Nick Carter|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=q4I0AAAAIBAJ&pg=5343,6053430&dq=countdown-time-in-outer-space&hl=en |newspaper=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel|date=April 7, 2004|page=1E |access-date=July 22, 2013}} It was again released as part of the box set The Dave Brubeck Quartet: the Columbia Studio Albums Collection 1955-1966.{{cite news |title=Trove of Brubeck discs hits market |first=Tony |last=Sauro |url=http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111208/A_ENTERTAIN1001/112080308/-1/NEWSMAP |newspaper=The Record |location=Stockton, California |date=December 8, 2011 |access-date=July 22, 2013}} Both CD re-releases feature a bonus track titled "Fatha".{{cite news |title=Music Review: The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Box Set |first=Greg |last=Barbrick |url=http://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/blogcritics/article/Music-Review-The-Dave-Brubeck-Quartet-Time-Box-855426.php |newspaper=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |date=April 26, 2011 |access-date=July 22, 2013}}{{cite web |url=http://jazztimes.com/articles/22420-columbia-compiles-brubeck |title=Columbia Compiles Brubeck |last1=Carlson |first1=Russell |date=August 9, 2003 |website=Jazz Times |access-date=July 23, 2013}}
Recording
Dedicated to astronaut John Glenn{{cite web|title=Downbeat|url=http://www.davebrubeckjazz.com/media/Articles-&-Interviews/Downbeat|website=Dave Brubeck Jazz|access-date=8 June 2017|date=1 October 2003}} the album was another in a series of concept albums studying the exploration of unusual meters and polytonality within a jazz context. Recorded between May 3, 1961 and February 12, 1962, it was put on tape in many of the same sessions that appear on Time Further Out. Brubeck encouraged the quartet members towards the development of new time signatures for this album.{{cite news |title=Brubeck's Signature, Signed with Time |author=Kristen Bialik |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/network-awesome/brubecks-signature-signed_b_1004591.html |newspaper=Huffington Post |date=October 11, 2011 |access-date=July 22, 2013}} The first track, "Countdown", is based on a typical "8 to the bar" boogie, stride piano in the manner of Earl Hines or Teddy Wilson,{{cite web |url=http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/brubeckdave-foralltime/ |title=Dave Brubeck Quartet: For All Time |last1=Bowden |first1=Michael|date=March 10, 2004 |website=PopMatters |access-date=July 22, 2013}} but with two extra notes added in, giving a meter count of 10.{{cite AV media notes |title=Countdown—Time in Outer Space |others=Dave Brubeck Quartet |year=1962 |first=Dave |last=Brubeck |author-link=Dave Brubeck |type=LP Record |publisher=Columbia Records|id=CS 8575}} Michael Katzif considers the track so smoothly played that some people may be unaware of the unusual time signature.{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94979223 |title=Five More In 5/4 |last1=Katzif |first1=Michael |date=September 26, 2008 |website=npr.org |publisher=National Public Radio |access-date=July 22, 2013}} "Eleven Four" uses a pattern of five beats, then two sets of three to create the feel of eleven. In the track "Why Phillis" some players stick to {{music|time|3|4}} time, others adhere to {{music|time|4|4}}, while others move between the time signatures. "Someday My Prince Will Come" had been previously recorded by the Quartet, juxtaposing triple and quadruple meters in the album Dave Digs Disney,{{cite book |last=Hall |first=Fred |title= It's About Time: The Dave Brubeck Story|url=https://archive.org/details/itsabouttimedave00hall|url-access=registration |year=1996 |publisher=University of Arkansas Press |isbn=9781610752107 |page=[https://archive.org/details/itsabouttimedave00hall/page/62 62]}} but the track was re-done on this album to further realize the rhythmic possibilities of poly-rhythm, including adding a rhythm of {{music|time|2|4}} to the mix. "Castilian Blues" and "Castilian Drums" have time signatures of {{music|time|5|4}}, the latter being unsurprisingly a percussion showpiece. The next four tracks, "Fast Life," "Waltz Limp," "Three's a Crowd," and "Danse Duet" were written for a ballet entitled "Maiden in the Tower." Different characters in the performance have themes with different time signatures, and as they interact the interplay and contrasts of the various rhythms are paraded. The album's final track, as originally issued, is a standard blues in 4/4 time, hence the title "Back to Earth."
Reception
On release, Billboard expected the album to be "another smash" because of the "persuasive and exciting performances". Both the monaural and stereo version appeared on the respective Billboard charts.{{cite news |title=Top LPs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ORcEAAAAMBAJ&dq=Columbia+CS+8575+Brubeck&pg=PP2|newspaper=Billboard |date=August 25, 1962 |page=2|access-date=22 July 2013}} Countdown's first appearance on the Billboard chart was on June 16, 1962. It reached a peak position of No. 24 and remained on the chart for 21 weeks.The Billboard Albums, 6th ed. Joel Whitburn. 2006. Record Research Inc. p. 149. {{ISBN|0-89820-166-7}} The St. Petersburg Times called the album "modern jazz at its finest."{{cite news |title=Santa's Gift Guide |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qWNSAAAAIBAJ&pg=5821,4619336&dq=countdown-time-in-outer-space&hl=en |newspaper=St. Petersburg Times |date=November 28, 1963 |page=6–G |access-date=July 22, 2013}} Louise Stone recommended the album but found it inferior to Brubeck's Fantasy recordings and Jazz Goes to College. The album has been cited as a superior example of utilizing "off" time signatures.{{cite book |last=Bufe |first=Chaz|title=An Understandable Guide to Music Theory: The Most Useful Aspects of Theory for Rock, Jazz & Blues Musicians |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6btiJVGa6D8C&dq=Countdown+Time+in+Outer+Space&pg=PA66 |access-date=July 21, 2013|year=1994 |publisher=SEE SHARPE PRESS |isbn=9781884365003 |page=66}} The Age stated that the album "breaks new ground." The Seattle Post-Intelligencer called it one of Brubeck's most creative records.
Track listing
{{Track listing
| all_writing = Dave Brubeck except where noted{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/countdown-time-in-outer-space-mw0000868306 |title=Dave Brubeck - Countdown: Time in Outer Space |last1=Yanow |first1=Scott |website=Allmusic|access-date=July 22, 2013}}
| extra_column = Recording date
| total_length = 37:52
| title1 = Countdown
| extra1 = February 12, 1962
| length1 = 2:23
| title2 = Eleven Four
| writer2 = Paul Desmond
| extra2 = May 25, 1961
| length2 = 2:48
| title3 = Why Phillis
| writer3 = Eugene Wright
| extra3 = June 28, 1961
| length3 = 2:17
| title4 = Someday My Prince Will Come
| writer4 = Frank Churchill, Larry Morey
| extra4 = January 12, 1962
| length4 = 6:22
| title5 = Castilian Blues
| extra5 = May 3, 1961
| length5 = 2:33
| title6 = Castilian Drums
| extra6 = May 3, 1961
| length6 = 3:52
| title7 = Fast Life
| extra7 = June 28, 1961
| length7 = 2:57
| title8 = Waltz Limp
| extra8 = May 3, 1961
| length8 = 4:14
| title9 = Three's a Crowd
| extra9 = June 2, 1961
| length9 = 2:41
| title10 = Danse Duet
| extra10 = June 28, 1961
| length10 = 3:45
| title11 = Back to Earth
| extra11 = December 16, 1961
| length11 = 3:16
}}
=CD bonus track=
{{Track listing
| title1 = Fatha
| note1 =
| length1 = 3:47
}}
Personnel
- Dave Brubeck – piano
- Paul Desmond – alto saxophone
- Eugene Wright – bass
- Joe Morello – drums
References
{{reflist}}
{{Dave Brubeck Quartet}}
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Category:Columbia Records albums