I first heard the Quartet as a young teenager. I was floored that there could be such a thing as 5/4 time. And floored that it could be so cool. Then the friend who introduced me to Brubeck introduced me to Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis and the amazing Buddy Rich vs Max Roach album, and if I can ever find that on CD I will snap it up in a second. Hoooooooooooooooooooooooly. Man. Pete Fountain seemed a bit 'tame' after that, and so did Glenn Miller, but I never lost the knowledge that music takes lotsa forms, and just because I don't understand it at the time--hell, that don't mean it don't 'rock'.