Dave Brubeck - Chromatic Fantasy Sonata, Five Pieces from Two Part Adventures, Tritonis, The Salmon Strikes, Rising Sun.

Soloist - John Salmon, piano.

Naxos 8.559212

THE memory of feeling very sophisticated and avant-garde came rushing back at the opening of this CD.

Although the music is not Take Five and Blue Rondo a la Turque - records that were hits when I was a teenager - Dave Brubeck is the composer and the tracks are more of a classical nature.

This is more refined and orthodox in style - jazz being the oeuvre in which Brubeck is acknowledged as a legend.

Instead of the improvisation and witty style this is serious composition, with a clear allusion to JS Bach.

The influence is very marked, yet new and dynamic.

John Salmon, a devotee of Brubeck for many years is now a colleague and friend. His interpretation many of the intricate compositions even manage to amaze the composer!

The tracks are interesting in the extreme and some have become part of the jazz quartet repertoire.

The Salmon Strikes is a tribute to Salmon, a remembrance of a fishing trip to Alaska and The Rising Sun a recollection of the composer's first trip to Japan - the track evokes the minimalist, precise nature of the place. It's poetic and sparse at the beginning and has a closer resemblance to the jazz compositions, rather than the classical.

Altogether this is an interesting and enlightening recording. Play it and see.

Soloist - John Salmon, Piano.

THE memory of feeling very sophisticated and avant-garde came rushing back at the opening of this CD.

Although the music is not Take Five and Blue Rondo a la Turque- records that were hits when I was a teenager - Dave Brubeck is the composer and the tracks are more of a classical nature.

This is more refined and orthodox in style - jazz being the oeuvre that Brubeck is readily acknowledged to be a legend.

Instead of the improvisation and witty style this is serious composition, with a clear allusion to JS Bach.

The influence is very marked, yet new and dynamic.

John Salmon, a devotee of Brubeck for many years is now a colleague and friend. His interpretation many of the intricate compositions even manage to amaze the composer!

The tracks are interesting in the extreme and some have become part of the jazz quartet repertoire.

The Salmon Strikes is a tribute to Salmon, a remembrance of a fishing trip to Alaska and The Rising Sun a recollection of the composer's first trip to Japan - the track evokes the minimalist, precise nature of the place. It's poetic and sparse at the beginning and has a closer resemblance to the jazz compositions, rather than the classical.

Altogether this is an interesting and enlightening recording. Play it and see.