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 pianist-arranger Alan Broadbent.
Released today is Broadbent Plays Brubeck (Eden River), featuring Alan at the piano with Harvie S on bass and Hans Dekker on drums backed by the London Metropolitan String Orchestra playing Alan's string arrangements. Alan chose 11 songs, 10 by Dave and one—Theme for June—by Howard Brubeck, Dave's older brother. The 10 songs by Dave are The Duke, One Moment Worth Years, Bossa Nova USA, Summer Song, Blue Rondo a la Turk, Strange Meadowlark, In Your Own Sweet Way, Weep No More, When I Was Young and Home at Last. I would have loved if Alan had included Nomad, my favorite, but that's a quibble.
Alan's playing is fluid and breezy, playing all of the material at just the right tempo and with just the right feel. The Duke, for example, is often played with swing when in fact it should have a slight lurch. Dave heard the melody while listening to the loud, metronome-like quality of the windshield wipers on his Kaiser Vagabond. Alan gets The Duke just right. The same goes for Strange Meadowlark's meandering groove and In Your Own Sweet Way's fragile innocence.
Theme for June was new to me. The classical-jazz piece was originally part of a larger work called Dialogues for Jazz Combo & Orchestra, which was first played by the Dave Brubeck Quartet with Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic in 1960.
By contrast, Theme for June was Alan's first musical exposure to Brubeck. In 1961 when he was 14, Alan found Howard Brubeck’s transcriptions in a music store in Auckland, New Zealand. By then, Alan had already heard the Dave Brubeck Quartet's Take Five on the radio but he had no idea how Theme for June was supposed to be played. Alan didn't have Bernstein Plays Brubeck Plays Bernstein and wouldn't have found it in his remote town even if he knew the song was on there. A good sight reader even then, Alan began to play the piece as written.
Broadbent Plays Brubeck is a breezy joy and a marvelous introduction to the Dave Brubeck Quartet, if you're unfamiliar. I'll be listening to Dave's music all day today as a result of Alan's album. Most fascinating is how Alan arranged the orchestra so his piano would nest neatly in the setting when overdubbing the trio.
I know Alan captured Dave's spirit because I grew dewy-eyed while listening to the album. It took me back to my Wilton, Ct., visit and tracing the lines on Dave's sun-drenched face with my eyes as he watched that lake with love. You'll feel it, too, listening to Alan Broadbent's new album.
Dave Brubeck died in 2012.
Released today is Broadbent Plays Brubeck (Eden River), featuring Alan at the piano with Harvie S on bass and Hans Dekker on drums backed by the London Metropolitan String Orchestra playing Alan's string arrangements. Alan chose 11 songs, 10 by Dave and one—Theme for June—by Howard Brubeck, Dave's older brother. The 10 songs by Dave are The Duke, One Moment Worth Years, Bossa Nova USA, Summer Song, Blue Rondo a la Turk, Strange Meadowlark, In Your Own Sweet Way, Weep No More, When I Was Young and Home at Last. I would have loved if Alan had included Nomad, my favorite, but that's a quibble.
Alan's playing is fluid and breezy, playing all of the material at just the right tempo and with just the right feel. The Duke, for example, is often played with swing when in fact it should have a slight lurch. Dave heard the melody while listening to the loud, metronome-like quality of the windshield wipers on his Kaiser Vagabond. Alan gets The Duke just right. The same goes for Strange Meadowlark's meandering groove and In Your Own Sweet Way's fragile innocence.
Theme for June was new to me. The classical-jazz piece was originally part of a larger work called Dialogues for Jazz Combo & Orchestra, which was first played by the Dave Brubeck Quartet with Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic in 1960.
By contrast, Theme for June was Alan's first musical exposure to Brubeck. In 1961 when he was 14, Alan found Howard Brubeck’s transcriptions in a music store in Auckland, New Zealand. By then, Alan had already heard the Dave Brubeck Quartet's Take Five on the radio but he had no idea how Theme for June was supposed to be played. Alan didn't have Bernstein Plays Brubeck Plays Bernstein and wouldn't have found it in his remote town even if he knew the song was on there. A good sight reader even then, Alan began to play the piece as written.
Broadbent Plays Brubeck is a breezy joy and a marvelous introduction to the Dave Brubeck Quartet, if you're unfamiliar. I'll be listening to Dave's music all day today as a result of Alan's album. Most fascinating is how Alan arranged the orchestra so his piano would nest neatly in the setting when overdubbing the trio.
I know Alan captured Dave's spirit because I grew dewy-eyed while listening to the album. It took me back to my Wilton, Ct., visit and tracing the lines on Dave's sun-drenched face with my eyes as he watched that lake with love. You'll feel it, too, listening to Alan Broadbent's new album.
Dave Brubeck died in 2012.
This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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