7/4

For days this song has been stuck in my head. DAYS. I don’t know if it’s the unconventional 7/4 time of the piece or its blues-y bass-heavy-ness that gets me, but DAMN. Adding to the greatness of this piece? Brubeck is reported to have thought this up and recorded it in a day.

Deceptively simple and so good!

Google used the piece earlier this year in a doodle to commemorate Saul Bass’ birthday.

Read more about it here.

Brubeck also arranged a version for orchestra which doesn’t seem to get performed very often. Here’s the London Symphony Orchestra taking a crack at it with Brubeck himself in 2001:

Not bad, but a disappointing recording—the symphony drowns out Brubeck’s playing. Would be interesting to hear the BSO taking it on, especially with Alsop conducting and while they have Jean-Yves Thibaudet visiting later this fall.

What’s been stuck in your heads lately, folks?