This album was an immediate revelation for me. I've listened to some great stuff already, but Time Out had me hooked from the first few bars—the opening rhythm of Blue Rondo à la Turk is now permanently tattooed on my brain. Perhaps that's no coincidence; Time Out's primary innovation is its usage of time signatures that were previously uncommon in jazz (e.g., ⁹ ₈ in Blue Rondo à la Turk; ⁵ ₄ in Take Five). If, like me, you're struggling to understand the nuances of ⁹ ₈ rhythm, here's a helpful explanatory video from Wikipedia:

Got it? Good.

Another thing that stood out to me was how… classical this album sounds? Even on my first listen, something here struck me as familiar in a way I hadn't experienced with the earlier albums.

One more embed before we go: Canadian film animator Steven Woloshen produced a short film set to Take Five that I think is pretty neat:

Favourite track: Blue Rondo à la Turk