Indian Summer (US)

It's not uncommon for anyone to turn toward nostalgia as the years wear on, and at age 86, with nearly 60 years of recording behind him and nearly 50 since he shook up the jazz world with his landmark Time Out album, Dave Brubeck is certainly entitled to look back and take stock of his life. Indian Summer -- the phrase itself suggests an acknowledgement of a waning in progress -- is something of a companion piece to 2004's Private Brubeck Remembers. Like that gem, Indian Summer is a solo piano work comprised of Brubeck's ruminations on standards of the mid-20th century, the period when he was just coming up as an artist and blossoming as a young man. These are reflective, meditative ballads, softly but skillfully played and hinting at melancholy. On time-worn Americana such as "Georgia on My Mind," "September Song," "Sweet Lorraine," and "Spring Is Here," Brubeck is restrained but soulful, out to prove nothing. It's not that age has dulled him; Brubeck's performance is uniformly exquisite, imaginative, and elegant; it's just not edgy. A small handful of original material nicely complements the standards, adding up to one of the more intimate entries in Brubeck's enormous discography. ~ Jeff Tamarkin