Second only to Kind of Blue by Miles and Jazz Samba by Stan Getz, as the most commercially successful jazz record of all time (it even contained a single for the pop charts, Paul Desmond's magnificent Take Five'), Brubeck brilliantly popularised jazz and offered it as a palatable alternative to Bobby Vee. This album sold by the truckload and made Brubeck a popular star. Those jazz critics who shunned him for becoming too commercial must eat their words, as this is a monumental album of the finest modern jazz. Blue Rondo a la Turk and Kathy's Waltz demonstrate this man's graceful, nonchalant class.
