Dave Brubeck
David Warren Brubeck (born
December 6,
1920 in
Concord, California), better known as
Dave Brubeck, is a
U.S. jazz pianist. Often regarded as a genius in his field, he has written a number of
jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at
classical training and his
improvisational skills. Much of his music employs unusual
time signatures.
His long-time musical partner, alto saxophonist
Paul Desmond, wrote the quartet's most famous piece, "
Take Five", which is in 5/4 time. Brubeck experimented with time signatures through much of his career, recording "Pick Up Sticks" in 6/4, "Unsquare Dance" in 7/4, and "Blue Rondo à la Turk" in 9/8, an experimentation begun with his attempts to put
music to the odd rhythms generated by various machines around him on his parents' cattle ranch in a small town in the western United States.
Brubeck's mother studied piano in
England and intended to become a concert pianist; at home she taught piano for extra money. Brubeck was not particularly interested in learning by any particular method, but preferred to create his own
melodies, and therefore avoided learning to read
sheet music. In college Brubeck was nearly expelled when one of his professors discovered that he could not read sheet music. Several of his professors came forward arguing for his ability with
counterpoint and
harmony, but the school was still afraid that it would cause a scandal, and only agreed to let Brubeck graduate once he promised never to teach piano.After graduating from the
University of the Pacific in 1942, Brubeck was
drafted into the
army and served overseas in
George Patton's Third Army during the
Battle of the Bulge. He played in a band, quickly
integrating it and gaining both popularity and deference. He returned to college after serving nearly 4 years in the army, this time attending
Mills College and studying under
Darius Milhaud, who encouraged him to study
fugue and
orchestration but not classical piano. (Oddly enough, most critics consider Brubeck something of a classical pianist playing jazz.)
After completing his studies under Milhaud, Brubeck signed with
Berkeley, California's
Fantasy Records. He started an
octet including
Cal Tjader and
Paul Desmond. Highly experimental, the group made few recordings and got even fewer paying jobs. A bit discouraged, Brubeck started a trio with two of the members, not including Desmond, who had a gig of his own, and spent several years playing nothing but jazz standards. Brubeck then formed
The Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1951, which consisted of
Joe Dodge on drums,
Bob Bates on bass,
Paul Desmond on saxophone, and of course Brubeck on piano. They took up a long residency at
San Francisco's
Black Hawk nightclub and gained great popularity touring college campuses, recording a series of albums with such titles as
Jazz at Oberlin,
Jazz Goes to College and
Jazz Goes to Junior College. In 1954 he was featured on the cover of
Time Magazine, the first Jazz musician to be so honored. In the mid-1950s Bates and Dodge were respectively replaced by
Eugene Wright and
Joe Morello. Eugene Wright is
African-American; in the late
1950s Brubeck cancelled many concerts because the club owners wanted him to bring a different bassist. He also cancelled a
television appearance when he found out that the venue intended to keep Wright off-camera.
In 1959, the Dave Brubeck Quartet released
Time Out, an album their label was enthusiastic about but nonetheless hesitant to release. The album contained all original compositions, almost none of which were in
common time. Nonetheless, on the strength of these unusual time signatures (the album included "Take Five", "Blue Rondo à la Turk", and "Pick Up Sticks"), it quickly went
platinum. The quartet followed up its success with several more albums in the same vein, including
Time Further Out (1961),
Time in Outer Space, and
Time Changes. These albums were also known for using contemporary paintings as cover art, featuring the work of
Neil Fujita on
Time Out,
Joan Miró on
Time Further Out,
Franz Kline on
Time in Outer Space, and
Sam Francis on
Time Changes. A high point for the group was their classic 1963 live album
At Carnegie Hall, described by critic
Richard Palmer as "arguably Dave Brubeck's greatest concert".
Apart from the
Jazz Goes to College and the 'Time' series, Brubeck recorded several records featuring his compositions based on local music.
Jazz Impressions of USA,
Jazz Impressions of Japan,
Jazz Impressions of Eurasia and
Jazz Impressions of New York may not be his most famous works, but all are brilliant examples of the quartet's studio work.
In the early 1960's Dave Brubeck was the program director of
WJZZ-FM radio. He achieved his vision of an all jazz format radio station along with his friend and neighbor John E. Metts, one of the first African Americans in senior radio management. From 1956 - 1965 Mr. Metts was the Vice President of an existing news station in Bridgeport, CT, call letters:WICC "Wicc600". In 1964 WJZZ switched to broadcasting the "Top 100" - most likely due to the British Invasion of Rock and Roll.
|
Dave Brubeck Quartet 1967 |
The Dave Brubeck Quartet broke up in 1967 except for a 25th anniversary reunion in 1976; Brubeck continued playing with Desmond and then began recording with
Gerry Mulligan. Desmond died in 1977 and left everything, including residuals and the immense royalties for "Take Five", to the
American Red Cross. Mulligan and Brubeck recorded together for six years and then Brubeck formed another group with
Perry Robinson on
clarinet (or
Jerry Bergonzi on
saxophone), and three of his sons,
Dan,
Darius, and
Chris, on
drums,
bass, and
keyboards. Brubeck continues to write new works, including orchestrations and
ballet scores, and tours about 80 cities each year, upto recently about 20 of them in
Europe in autumn. From his 85th birthday his European appearances will be limited. His area of focus is the US, where he still premieres new works, like the Cannery Row Suite, and a project with a bigband.
His quartet now includes alto saxophonist and flautist
Bobby Militello, bassist
Michael Moore (who replaced
Alec Dankworth), and his long-time drummer
Randy Jones and has recently worked extensively with the
London Symphony Orchestra.
 |
"Take Five" piano intro |
*
*
WNYC Interview with Brubeck. Includes many song excerpts. (7/2004)
*
PBS - Rediscovering Dave Brubeck December 16, 2001 documentary
*
Dave Brubeck Discography Project*
The Brubeck Institute*
Biography, photos, CDs and concert review of Dave Brubeck by cosmopolis.ch
