Dave Brubeck Quartet Tonight Only

Although he was popular with the public since the beginning of his career in the late 1940s, the enormous success of his 1959 album Time Out allowed Dave Brubeck to get a free check to do whatever project he wanted. His renown made it possible for him to include important guest stars on his albums, such as Leonard Bernstein, Jimmy Rushing, and of course, Carmen McRae (1920-1994), who joined him for the first time on Tonight Only! In fact, she only participates on four of the LP’s nine numbers. “Tristesse” is a solo piano track by Brubeck, while “Melanctha”, “Talkin’ and Walkin’”, “Late Lament” and “Tonight Only” are by the Quartet featuring Paul Desmond. A fourth number with McRae was also recorded on the September 9, 1960 session which produced all of the album’s vocal selections: “There’ll Be No Tomorrow”, which was included as the last track on an album titled Point on Jazz, which was otherwise a piano duet. It has been added here as a bonus closing Side A.