This is rare and valuable Brubeck; the sessions from Birdland were taken off the air by Boris Rose, who recorded dozens of programmes from Birdland, the Royal Roost and other New York venues directly from the radio. The sound quality is surprisingly good – by no means perfect – and does not in any way detract from these valuable performances from December 1951 and January 1952. By 1951, Brubeck was beginning to spread his wings after establishing himself as something of a star in West Coast jazz circles. His style had still not fully coalesced, and on the first version of ‘Jeepers Creepers’ (track four) the influence of Bud Powell is readily – and impressively – apparent. Like all great jazz musicians, Brubeck had to go through various stages of development to become his own man, but on ‘Tea for Two’ we hear he's almost reached the style we now associate with his playing; certainly, by 1954, after he had been featured on the cover of Time magazine (which announced he was “probably the most exciting new jazz artist at work today”) and had been signed by record giant Columbia, he was totally his own man. There's some rare stuff among the Birdland tracks – the first quartet recording of ‘How High the Moon’ (Brubeck had previously recorded this with his octet in 1948 and his trio in 1950) and on their version of ‘Tea For Two’ the intro is subtly Lennie Tristano-esque. As an aside, Mort Lewis, then manager of the Brubeck Quartet, recalled how Pee Wee Marquette, the diminutive doorman and M.C. of Birdland used to demand from every band that played Birdland 50 cents from each member to announce their names – so everybody paid him. When Brubeck played Birdland, he paid 50 cents, so too bassist Wyatt Ruther and drummer Herb Barman. Paul Desmond refused to pay one cent. Thus Marquette announced, “Welcome to Birdland the world famous Dave Brubeck Quartet with Wyatt Ruther on bass and Herb Barman on drums” and then he elaborately put his hand over the microphone and says “What's that cat's name?”, referring to Desmond, then announcing, “On alto sax, Bud Esmond!” Night after night, Desmond found this hugely amusing. Brubeck's Newport set from 17 July 1955 – the second Newport Festival – is presented in its entirety for the first time and in good fidelity. The track ‘Crazy Chris’ is incomplete, maybe because a radio sponsor's advert was edited out. Desmond is exemplary on ‘Don't Worry About Me’, while the final track, a rumbustious ‘Tea for Two’, is the end of day Newport jam session where Brubeck's quartet is joined by Max Roach, Clifford Brown, Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker (the liner notes suggest Joe Morello had a turn at the drums, but this is doubtful). Brown and Roach prevail, Mulligan holds it all together and it's all pretty on-the-edge-of-chaos stuff. A session of great historical interest.