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Dave Brubeck
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.
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Dave Brubeck: A Dave Brubeck Christmas
by Mark Sullivan
This was Dave Brubeck's fourth album of unaccompanied solo piano, originally released on Telarc in 1996. As the title implies, Brubeck Plays Brubeck (Columbia, 1956) was devoted to original music and sketches. But all of the others mainly featured the pianist interpreting other people's compositions; in this case, mainly brief treatments of traditional Christmas music and popular standards. Brubeck was after a particular atmosphere: his liner notes describe music as an essential part of Christmas celebrations in his family, with ...
read moreThe Dave Brubeck Quartet: The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Live From The Northwest, 1959
by Mike Jurkovic
Like Elemental Music's previously unheard Bill Evans' set, Tales: Live in Copenhagen (1964), The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Live From The Northwest, 1959 may not hold the historical weight of other posthumous Brubeck releases, but it certainly displays the effortless virtuosity and invention the quartet brought to every gig, large or small, far and wide and in-between. Just months before Brubeck, alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, bassist Eugene Wright, and drummer Joe Morello would set the music world alight with Time Out (Columbia, 1959), Wally ...
read moreDave Brubeck: A Dave Brubeck Christmas
by Richard J Salvucci
As the end of the year Holidays draw near, it is difficult to avoid a certain cynicism about seasonal music. Take Christmas albums. Some artists have multiple efforts. It is a virtual guarantee that someone at random--say Ferlin Husky--has a Christmas album. A risk-taker could probably safely win a blind wager, because, well, everyone has one. It would take far too much space and patience to provide a sample. Besides, this is about Dave Brubeck. Honestly, some listeners ...
read moreBrubeck In '59 And Some Brand New Jazz Releases
by Bob Osborne
On this show we feature new new releases from Dave Brubeck, Voodoo Drummer, Matías Formica, Art Hirahara, John Herberman, Ivo Perelman, Susan Alcorn, Afro Peruvian New Trends Orchestra, Barry Deister, Constantine Alexander, and, Laurent Estoppey with Daniel Levin.Playlist Show Intro 00:00 The Dave Brubeck Quartet “Basin Street Blues" from Live from the Northwest, 1959 (Brubeck Editions) 00:54 Voodoo Drummer “Gnossienne No 1/Milo mou kokkino" from Erik Satie in 7/8 + Milo mou kokkino (Self Released) 07:42 Matías Formica ...
read moreThe Dave Brubeck Quartet: The Dave Brubeck Quartet Live from the Northwest,1959
by Pierre Giroux
The Dave Brubeck Quartet Live from the Northwest,1959 was recorded in a moment of jazz history that showcased the quartet's exceptional musical prowess and Dave Brubeck's innovative approach to jazz composition. The album offers a vibrant snapshot of the group's improvisational energy and collective synergy exemplified by the four incomparable musicians, which, in addition to Brubeck, were Paul Desmond alto saxophone, Eugene Wright on bass and Joe Morello drums. This seven-track concert was recorded over two ...
read moreJazz International: Part 1
by Monk Rowe
Jazz was the first American music to be embraced and copied around the world. Its infectious swing and message of democracy between musicians rang a bell from Scotland to Japan. Steve Allen, Dave Brubeck, Alan Raph, Ignacio Berroa, Eiji Kitamura and Toshiko Akiyoshi speak to the magnetic attraction of American jazz. ...
read moreDave Brubeck Quartet: Debut In The Netherlands 1958: The Lost Recordings
by Chris May
For some people, the Dave Brubeck Quartet's catalogue starts with 1959's Time Out (Columbia) and ends with Time Further Out (Columbia) two years later. Verily, they know not what they are missing. The band was burning from 1951, when Brubeck and alto saxophonist Paul Desmond founded it, until 1967 and the breakup of the “classic" lineup. That lineup comprised Brubeck, Desmond, bassist Eugene Wright, who joined in early 1958, and drummer Joe Morello, who joined in late 1956, and it ...
read moreDave Brubeck: Live From the Northwest, 1959
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Last week, I pulled a new album loose from an envelope and the first thought I had was, “Goodness, do we really need another live album from the Dave Brubeck Quartet?" The track list wasn't much help selling me on giving the CD a listen, with songs like When the Saints Go Marching In and The Lonesome Road. But because I spent an afternoon with Dave at his home this time of year back in 2010 and because Lydia Liebman ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Dave Brubeck
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Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Dave Brubeck's birthday today!
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 ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Dave Brubeck
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Dave Brubeck's birthday today!
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 ...
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Dave Brubeck and Mort Sahl
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Mort Sahl, a Canadian-born American comedian who helped pioneer socio-political satire in the 1950s and '60s, died on October 26. He was 94. For a brief moment in 1958, he hosted a pilot for a local San Franciso TV jazz show called Jam Session. He wasn't the show's planned host but he agreed to sit in. And why not? The group featured live at the Black Hawk was the Dave Brubeck Quartet. What's special about the following clip is the ...
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5 Videos: Dave Brubeck Quartet
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
After my post on Alan Broadbent's new album, Broadbent Plays Brubeck, I spent a chunk of time yesterday listening to the Dave Brubeck Quartet. I also slid onto YouTube for a bit. Here's what came up in my net: Here's the Dave Brubeck Quartet playing Lover on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1955... Here's the Dave Brubeck Quartet playing I'm in a Dancing Mood on Ed Sullivan in 1960... Here's the Dave Brubeck Quartet at the Juan-les-Pins Jazz Festival in ...
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Alan Broadbent Plays Dave Brubeck
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
A tribute album to Dave Brubeck isn't about emulating Dave. It also isn't about interpretation. To hit the bull's eye, you have to capture Dave's spirit—his broad smile, his post-war optimism and his sophisticated, sunny feel, which is purely emotional. Either you get it or you don't. Having spent an afternoon on assignment with Dave in 2010 at his house in Connecticut watching the creek that rushed past his home empty into a lake, I totally get it. So does ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Dave Brubeck
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Dave Brubeck's birthday today!
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 ...
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Dave Brubeck: Lullabies
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
The warmest and most relaxing holiday album of the season isn't a holiday album at all. It's a new release from the late Dave Brubeck called Lullabies (Verve). The 15 previously unreleased piano solos were recorded in March 2010 as a gift to his grandchildren, and the standards and originals would become his last studio recording. Dave died in 2012. I last saw Dave in December 2010, when I visited Dave and his wife, Iola, for a Wall Street Journal ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Dave Brubeck
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Dave Brubeck's birthday today!
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... Read more.
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David Brubeck Trio: 1949-'50
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
In 1950, New York had the George Shearing Quintet, a group that Shearing harmonized by combining the voicing of the Glenn Miller Orchestra and the block-chords piano style of Milt Buckner. In San Francisco, the Dave Brubeck Trio was equally delicious to the ear. The trio consisted of Dave Brubeck (piano), Ron Crotty (bass) and Cal Tjader (drums, bongo, conga and vibes). Thanks to Tjader's versatility on percussion instrument, particularly the vibes, the trio sounded more like a quintet. While ...
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Dave Brubeck
Instrument: Piano
Born: December 6, 1920
Died: December 5, 2012
