At the end of 1967, the classic Dave Brubeck Quartet embarked on their final European tour – a lap of honour – before returning home and disbanding with a farewell Boxing Day concert in Pittsburgh. That Pittsburgh sign-of was given an official release by Columbia Legacy in 2011, under the title Their Last Time Out, and numerous other releases of sometimes dubious provenance documenting this same tour are in circulation; but nothing quite captures the sound and internal chemistry of the latter-day Brubeck Quartet like this exceptionally well recorded concert (far superior sound to Columbia's live Brubeck albums from 1967), performed at a luxury Swiss hotel. Fondementa would no doubt prefer you to buy their vinyl edition direct from their website for 110 Euros (!), but they have been magnanimous enough to make available a CD version for a tenth of that price via French Amazon. The concert opens with ‘Three To Get Ready’ and a barometer reading of where the quartet are at emerges during the preliminary relay-race exchanges as Paul Desmond fumbles his notes. During ‘Take Five’, Desmond serves up a compendium of phrases and harmonic bon mots familiar from earlier ‘Take Five’ solos, spontaneously re-ordered into a satisfying whole, and it's Brubeck, even at this late stage, who is prepared to take risks. How many times had his group played ‘Someday My Prince Will Come’? Well, as Dave manhandles ‘Sing, Sing, Sing’ into his solo, bashing its familiar strains against erratic left hand stabs – an unpredictable gambit which finds a resolution of sorts as he motors towards funky stride piano – this Swiss audience heard a performance like no other. Wright and Morello coast joyfully through the set, and the structural ambition and timbral imagination of Morello's 16-minute drum feature is worthy to sit alongside his signature 1963 Carnegie Hall solo. Otherwise, Paul puts on a good show but is clearly ready to kickback with a whisky at Bradley's; while Dave's playing is alive with fresh ideas, soon to be followed up in his new group with Gerry Mulligan.