The three CDs that comprise The Complete Storyville Broadcasts were recorded between February 1952 and July 1954. Thus they contain some of the earliest recordings by the Dave Brubeck Quartet with Paul Desmond as they worked towards the cohesive group sound that would come to epitomise the optimism of the Eisenhower Era. Their first recordings were actually made in a studio session in August 1951 and included ‘Crazy Chris’ and ‘Lyons Busy’, which are included in the ‘live’ repertoire covered by this set. Brubeck played the Storyville Club in 1952, 1953 and 1954 and many of his performances were broadcast on radio. Two albums were issued from broadcast tapes, Jazz at Storyville: The Dave Brubeck Trio and Quartet released on the Fantasy label, and six numbers from the 1954 broadcasts were released by Columbia as Dave Brubeck at Storyville: 1954. All these tracks are included in this set, in chronological order (except for the addition of two bonus tracks unaccountably added at the end of CD1 from June 1955) with addition of all of the quartet's known broadcasts from the club, including five previously unreleased broadcasts in their entirety comprising more than 40 tracks. It makes for an impressive set, and the sound is very good throughout, making this a valuable historical document, against a background

of constant comings and goings on bass and drums (the 1952 tracks have Wyatt Ruther on bass and Herb Barman on drums. From October 1952 Lloyd Davis replaced Barman, and by February 1953 Ron Crotty had replaced Ruther. In December 1953, Ron Crotty on bass and Joe Dodge on drums had taken over and three months later Bob Bates on bass was in for Crotty – phew!) Brubeck and Desmond nevertheless managed to consolidate the ‘sound’ of the Dave Brubeck Quartet as we know it, which literally can be heard developing broadcast by broadcast, year by year. It was not an inconsiderable achievement, as this collection demonstrates.