Joe Morello

"Every so often you're lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. And we were the lucky ones, those of us who were in Carnegie Hall on Friday night, February 22, 1963. That was the night the Dave Brubeck Quartet reached swinging heights few of us had ever heard it attain before. It began predictably as a good Brubeck concert, but nothing out of the ordinary. We were all there on this Washington's Birthday because we like to listen to Brubeck, and we were hearing pretty much what we had expected to hear. And so we were satisfied. Then suddenly it happened-right after the start of the third number. Don't ask why. Probably nobody can explain it. But it happened all right, and what had begun as a quite good Brubeck concert burst abruptly into a truly great one. From then on, this turned out to be the night the Dave Brubeck Quartet was really swinging. This was the night it fell into a groove few, if any of us, had ever realized it could find. This was one of those nights when everything turned out right. During intermission I sat with Dave and Paul Desmond in their dressing room. They were very happy. A great rapport had been established, because they were feeling exactly what we had been feeling out front. They knew even better than we did that this was a special night. Some days later Dave, still exultant about what had happened at Carnegie Hall, remarked, 'The group had reached swinging heights like that before. What was lucky is that this concert was recorded!'"

When Jimmy starts to sing, with a big band, small band or all-star group, every musician swings just a little bit harder. Jimmy is contagious! I consider it a privilege to provide a background in this album for Jimmy Rushing's voice. We didn't want to intrude on his style, simply to provide an accompaniment which would make him free. There were no suggestions as to how we should play behind him. We only knew that in working with Jimmy, we would have to rely on instinct to follow the feeling of the moment, to help him build the mood that he creates in a song. Jimmy is the daddy of them all. -Dave Brubeck