Plays and Plays and...

Plays and Plays and... is a jazz album by pianist Dave Brubeck. It's Brubeck's second solo piano album (the first being Brubeck Plays Brubeck). It was originally released on Fantasy Records in 1957. The cover artwork was created by Arnold Roth.

Plays and Plays and... mainly features old standards, most of which improvised on the spot, or rehearsed roughly. "To me," Brubeck says, "improvisation is the core of the jazz. [...] Only through improvisation jazz is going to survive. When there is not complete freedom of the soloist, it ceases to be jazz." "Sweet Cleo Brown", one of the two Brubeck originals on the album, is dedicated to pianist Cleo Brown, whom had a great influence on him. Brubeck first met her in 1941, during a performance in a club. "She had the fastest left hand I've ever heard, except for Tatum's. [...] It was mostly from her I learned the importance of the left hand fulfilling the role of the string bass." Brubeck's favourite piece on Plays and Plays and... is "Imagination". ^[2]

Track listing

1. "Sweet Cleo Brown" (Brubeck) - 3:56
2. "I'm Old Fashioned" (Kern, Mercer) - 5:00
3. "Love Is Here to Stay" (Gershwin, Gershwin) - 2:51
4. "Indian Summer" (Dubin, Herbert) - 3:51
5. "In Search of a Theme" (Brubeck) - 2:29
6. "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" (Cole Porter) - 2:29
7. "I See Your Face Before Me" (Dietz, Schwartz) - 4:58
8. "They Say It's Wonderful" (Berlin) - 2:43
9. "Imagination" (Heusen) - 6:12
10. "Two Sleepy People" (Carmichael, Loesser) - 3:31 Bonus track on CD

Personnel

• Dave Brubeck - piano

References

1. ^ Allmusic review
2. ^ Original liner notes by Russ Wilson