Dave Brubeck - Brubeck In Wonderland: Dave Brubeck Trio, Quartet & Octet 1946-55 (1946/2008/2020)

Since Dave Brubeck recorded often in the decade or so this compilation covers, some serious jazz and Brubeck fans might find it too perfunctory a survey of his early years as a recording artist. If you're more into sampling than surveying, however, this is a pretty decent 72-minute anthology of his early work as the leader of groups of various sizes, though the liner notes are a disappointingly sketchy career overview. Cal Tjader is the most notable sideman on the first three tracks (from 1946-1950), but the remainder of the set (dominated by 1953-1954 recordings) find his most celebrated sideman, alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, on board. While there are shades of almost classical experimentalism on the 1946 recordings of "Serenade Suite" and Brubeck's composition "Playland at the Beach," by the '50s he'd settled into solid bop, though it's mildly disappointing that just three of the tracks are written by the Brubeck-Desmond team. Mixing live and studio recordings, the CD also includes interpretations of standards like "How High the Moon," "The Way You Look Tonight," "All the Things You Are," and "Stardust," though it's the Brubeck-Desmond cool jazz number "Crazy Chris" that most decisively pointed toward the pair's future direction.