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Innovative Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck has died, one day shy of his 92nd birthday.
Though the melody of Take Five, arguably his most famous recording (featured above), is credited to his quartet’s saxophonist, Paul Desmond, it is Brubeck’s love of uncommon time signatures that lays the foundation for one of the most iconic musical works of the 20th Century.
But Brubeck wasn’t just a crusader for rhythm. During his service in World War II, Brubeck was spotted playing a Red Cross show and ordered to form a band. Brubeck chose a racially integrated lineup, a rarity for military acts. During the 1950s and ’60s, Brubeck is reported to have canceled appearances at venues that balked at the mixed racial makeup of his quartet.
Brubeck was also said to have been upset when he was featured on the cover of Time magazine in 1954 (only the second Jazz musician so honored), believing that the selection was influenced by race.
Though he disbanded the quartet in 1967, Brubeck continued to compose and perform into his 90s. He was the recipient of numerous accolades and awards, including a Kennedy Center honor and a Grammy for lifetime achievement.
24 Comments
My brother and I went to see Dave Brubeck when he was playing in a 5-piece band with his 4 sons. It was his “classical jazz” period. On one piece, he had every body playing in different time signatures and in different keys. Mind-blowing.
Afterward, my brother and I read the review in the St. Petersburg Times. We had to stop when we got to the line that said: ‘Brubeck attracts all types, from the wealthy in tuxedos to hippies in jeans.’ We looked at each other and said: “They saw us..”
I never got to see Brubeck live. Each time there was some problem.
I find it interesting that many top-notch muscians often had integrated performances, even in informal settings, sixty or seventy years ago. Woody Guthrie, Tony Bennett, and Louis Armstrong come to mind along with Dave Brubeck.
Wow. He must have been young when he did Take 5, as I had that piece in a flute jazz book I played from when I was 15 or 16.
Listening to some of his music from his website just now.
Thanks, Mr. Brubeck. Bless your soul.
Oh, and of course thanks to Gregg for the diary.
Great diary,
I had to go play Time Out twice this afternoon when I found out.
In high school I wore out all the Quartet albums. “Time Further Out” was my fav. I can’t even express how much a part of me Dave Brubeck is. He and Desmond were truly a musical pair for the ages.
The long version, in case anyone is interested.
The Nice do one of their signature tunes, Rondo, based on Mr. Brubeck’s famous composition, Blue Rondo a la Turk.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6T1_-Y9KAs
Farewell to a jazz giant, by all accounts a truly decent person. He didn’t push the envelope of the medium stylistically, but his compositions and his playing were joyful.
I was lucky enough to spend a few easy hours with Dave, almost fifty years ago, when I would occasionally drive him from his home in Connecticut, back and forth to NYC. The conversations were always easy………not much about music, though……..just conversation……
At that time, my friends and I would drive into NYC at the drop of a hat, mostly to sit at the bar at the Hickory House on 52nd Street, where Marian McPartland held court for………who knows how many years.
For quite a while, Joe Morello was her drummer…..and I remember Bill Crow on bass. Three or four of us would sit five or six feet away from the piano, literlly, for hours on end, nursing just a beer or two. During intermissions (we would go in on weeknights, usually), Marian (an elegant lady) and Joe would sit with us in a booth and talking to us about their experiences over the years….one of my buds, from a family of musicians, took lessons from Joe for quite a while……….but we were mostly listeners……….Johnny mehegan often did a solo piano gig during the intermissions……….
The Hickory House is gone……Marian was still around, not long ago, still doing heer lovely NPR programs……..one of the videos at the end is of Joe on Conan OBrien’s show in 1995……..
Wanted to share………
I actually got to perform with Dave Brubeck. It was 1970 and he had written a “Jazz Oratorio” called “A Light in the Wilderness.” I was in The University of Minnesota Choir and he was coming to Minneapolis to perform one of the first examples of this work. We worked VERY hard on our parts but to be perfectly honest, it was pretty weird to count out 42 measures while waiting to sing ten, etc. Finally, Brubeck and company show up for dress rehearsal. Those long pauses were for when he and his band did their thing. Oh My!
Concert night arrives. Our choir dressed in tuxes and black evening gowns for concerts so all my fellow singers looked spectacular. About a half hour before we went on, Brubeck stops by to thank us for all our hard work. And it wash hard work—Brubeck was harder to sing than Bach. Some of the female members damn near swooned—Brubeck was an extremely handsome guy to go with his amazing musical genius.
We went out and swatted one out of the park. The audience went nuts—the standing ovation lasted around 20 minutes. Now I am sure that at least 98% of that ovation was for Brubeck and crew, but it was a LOT of fun to stand on stage and listen to the waves of sound wash down from a crowd of nearly 5000. I have had NO problem understanding why folks go through the suffering it takes to be a good musician after that night.
Aside from the Timeout album, Brubeck and Desmond also made a great album inspired by Japan. Sweet.
Those are some wonderful stories, y’all–wow & thanks!
And yes, I love the album Jazz Impressions of Japan, too.
Thanks Gregg. The wife and I encountered Dave in the early 2000s. He was Professor Emeritus at UOP in Stockton CA, his birthplace, and visited often. Dave was a very nice man. RIP Dave.
Do you call it a song? I guess. One amazing piece I remember from the show I saw (probably late 1970s or early 1980s) was “God’s Love Made Visible,” in which (as Brubeck explained before playing it) the words are pronounced by the instruments, over and over. It begins at 3:00 of this, which leads into the four Brubeck sons playing at the White House in the concert to honor their father.
The 4 Brubeck sons now look like the tuxedo’d wealthy from my Comment #1: When I saw them before, they all had hair down to their elbows. This is a good performance, on Dave Brubeck’s birthday, and you see the proud father beaming. Dig it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1jWlpMQW3Y
wow. thanks for that, very interesting. In my youth John Mehegan’s book was my jazz playing pianist friend’s bible. Marian McPartland radio show is available at PBS. it’s really good/
great interview here of Dave Brubeck, under “oral histories”
He grew up on a cattle ranch in California.
http://www.smithsonianjazz.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22&Itemid=28
wonderful, thanks.
While archiving my LP’s to hardrive I re-discovered “Dave Brubeck”. It was like running into a very old friend. He was on a 2 LP set titled “Dave Brubeck’s All Time Greatest Hits”. This was his quartet with Paul Desmond, on sax; Joe Morello, on drums; Eugene Wright, on base, and of course, Dave Brubeck on piano.
The music was as comfortable as an old pair of slippers, just right for listening and relaxing. Although “Take Five” was quite revolutionary when it came out on the LP “Time Out”, it seems tame now. So many memories of beautiful days in the past flooded my mind as I listened, that it was like a slide show of good times. I recall seeing Dave live at a free outdoor concert. It was at “Our Lady of The Snows Shrine”, in front of the main shrine, on a golden, warm Fall afternoon. He was accompanied by the most beautiful modern dancers who did choreography to his music. That day was unforgettable.
When I heard, I pulled “Time Changes” out from between “How Glad I am” (Nancy Wilson) and “Fresh Cream”. I never got tired of “Elementals.”
Not sure why, but there’s always been a connection in my mind between Dave and Kurt Vonnegut. Both decent and brilliant. Both forged their own path. Both a little quirky. Both now gone. I never met either, but spent a lot of time with them.
“Do you call it a song?”
My high school band director lit into us when anybody referred to any instrumental piece as a “song.”
It’s not a song if nobody is singing.
I never knew about John Mehegan’s background……..but his playing….in my foggy old/not-a-musician’s memory…….. was as delicious as any other jazz pianist…..will have to dig into his background, too…..
How great that some of the world’s greatest musicians are also its finest teachers……….also thinking back about Bernstein on Omnibus (in the 50′s on PBS/Sunday afternoons at 5)…..Dave Brubeck no doubt did things like this……can anyone point to some examples?
Some of the clips at the end of the video show Morello the teacher, too…..I kinda thought that he was elegantly restrained playing with both Brubeck and McPartland……..other than his own solos, of course (but even then, elegant)………..
Thanks everyone for all the links………..I will enjoy them all……..
Thinking about Dave Brubeck/Desmond/Morello why they were so successful in reaching people,
Although not simple, they’re music had “hooks” just like any pop tune.
Some musical phrase that stayed with you, after hearing it a few times. (unlike much jazz music, and a lot of modern pop music)
so, we can all remember blue rondo a la turk, take five, and so on. I can remember the melodies and rhythms right now.
Take five must be one of the biggest selling, most played, jazz songs ever written, and it’s in five/four.
When I say “Dave Brubeck”, I’m also saying: Paul Desmond, Joe Morello, and Eugene Wright. I gave “Jazz Impressions Of Japan” a spin, and that music is just as “hip” today as it was in 1964.
One of my favorites.