RIP Joe Morello

I was already playing the trumpet and making music of my own by the time one of my dad's old albums called out to me from the depths of my parent's awesome stereo console.

The album was "Time Out" by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. The cover artwork by S. Neil Fujita caught my eye and I took the vinyl out for a spin.

Side one has three songs on it, each one cooler than the next:

"Blue Rondo à la Turk" – 6:44 "Strange Meadow Lark" – 7:22 "Take Five" – 5:24

I quickly played the album a hundred times. It opened up my ears. Oh sure, I'd heard lots of music before, but this stuff blew my mind. It swung, it kicked ass. Paul Desmond's sax was like velvet, Brubeck's piano was unlike any piano playing I'd ever heard. Eugene Wright on bass kept it all from floating away and Joe Morello on drums kept it all on the right path while concurrently kicking it in a new direction.

Well, Joe Morello died this week and all this came rushing back. I saw him once in concert, in the early 80's. At Carnegie Hall. With my dad. Brubeck had one of his sons there too. It was a real treat to be there with my pop. My pop, who passed away a week before Joe. (You can read more about my dad here.)

Here's Joe playing "Take five", the big hit off of that album. Enjoy.