Love Songs

This is the tamer, politer side of Dave Brubeck, for sure, collecting ten songs, mostly ballads and never uptempo (though once in a while it gets brisk), from 1954 to 1967. For the most part these are soothing, though not overly slick, interpretations of standards by the likes of Cole Porter and Rodgers & Hart, as well as "These Foolish Things" and "Besame Mucho." It includes one unreleased track, a 1963 version of "You Go to My Head," on which clarinetist Bill Smith takes alto saxophonist Paul Desmond's place. These tunes have been grouped to market to the most mainstream segment of the record-buying population. Although this album won't yield a balanced overview of Brubeck's talents, however, that doesn't mean the music is bad. This is Sunday-morning jazz, or perhaps after-dinner jazz when everyone's too stuffed to dance, with reasonable integrity.