DAVE BRUBECK

The history of Jazz piano is equally fascinating, and as a matter of fact it was the stylings and experiments on piano, with brass music punctuation, by the musicians who worked in the brothels, that really began it all for what we now know as Jazz.  Ragtime music was in its heyday at the end of the nineteenth century, and at just about the turn of the twentieth century itinerant ragtime pianist Scott Joplin began to lay the foundation for what would develop, along with the blues, into the first utterances of this interesting 'Jass' vocabulary.   

Around the same time the flamboyant and facey pianist Jelly Roll Morton claimed that he had invented Jazz in 1902.  Of course there were many before him who “jazzed up” the rags and blues selections in order to create something new and exciting.  Other famous pianists of the early days of Jazz include riverboat pianist Fate Marable, the larger-than-life Fats Waller, the debonair Fletcher Henderson, and of course Mr. Sophistication himself, Duke Ellington.      

The “stride” and “boogie woogie” pianists included James P. Johnson, Albert Ammons, Willie The Lion Smith and Meade Lux Lewis, and as piano styles evolved, new purveyors came to the forefront, notably the ultimate technical virtuoso, Art Tatum, whose heyday was in the 1930's and 40's.  There have been numerous excellent pianists throughout Jazz history.  It is impossible to mention all of them here, but their contributions have all been sterling.

In A World of Jazz we have had a peek at Duke Ellington, Ray Charles, Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett.  We now feature an elder statesman of the Jazz piano, Dave Brubeck, who is still going strong at age 88.  My cousin David Craig has just seen him perform at the Blue Note in New York City two months ago, and David describes a lovely and energetic set from octogenarian Dave and his band.   

Critics Richard Cooke and Brian Morton get us started by opining: “Often derided as a white, middle-class formalist with a rather buttoned-down image and an unhealthy obsession with classical parallels and clever-clever time signatures, Brubeck is actually one of the most significant composer-leaders in modern Jazz.”   Indeed it is difficult to think of someone in the Jazz world who has exceeded Dave Brubeck's  accomplishments and popularity for such an extended time.

David Warren Brubeck was born on December 6th, 1920.  His father was of Native American ancestry, and his mother played the classical piano.  Dave entered the University of the Pacific hoping to become a veterinarian, but he ended up in the music program.  He could not read music well, but he was good at counterpoint and harmony.  After graduating he was drafted into the army, and played in an army band.  And after his almost four years overseas, he returned to music school and studied orchestration and composition with his mentor Darius Milhaud.

Dave started his professional career by helping to found California's Fantasy Records and by playing in an octet and then a trio that featured vibes player Cal Tjader.  In 1951 alto saxophonist Paul Desmond joined up with Dave, and they started The Dave Brubeck Quartet, which had a seventeen year run as one of the premier Jazz ensembles of its era.  The Quartet had an extended residency at San Francisco's Black Hawk club, and they gained huge popularity touring college campuses and recording a series of albums.   In 1954 the Quartet had its debut on Columbia Records, and in the same year Dave was featured on the cover of Time Magazine, being only the second Jazz personality to gain that honor.  The first was Louis Armstrong, who made the TIME cover in 1949.  

The Quartet went on to become all the rage in the Jazz world.  In 1956 drummer Joe Morello joined the group, and in 1958 Eugene Wright came on as bass player.  The “classic” line-up of the Quartet was thus in place as of 1958, and for the next ten years almost, they recorded, played concerts, including one at Carnegie Hall, and toured many countries, especially in Europe and Asia.

Bassist Eugene Wright is African American, and in the early 1960's Dave cancelled several appearances by the Quartet because some club owners had problems with an integrated band on the stage.  To boot, he refused a television appearance because the producers didn't want to showcase a black man!   Dave would have none of the entrenched racism and prejudice that persisted in the United States, and we can pause here to mention that it has been acknowleged by many Jazz critics and historians that Jazz and the artists who played it did a great deal to fight the Jim Crow laws of the American South and to integrate all aspects of American life. 

In 1959 the seminal recording “Time Out” was released.  And of course it features the famous Paul Desmond composition “Take Five,” which for so many fans and neophytes alike has come to virtually define the sound of Jazz.   Clifton “Dor” Hall loved to play “Take Five” on his Jazz program on Radio Belize, so it has to be one of the most recognized Jazz pieces here in Belize.

In the 1960's Dave also became program director of WJZZ-FM, and he and his friend John Metts – one of the first African Americans in senior radio management – achieved their vision of an all Jazz format radio station.         

From 1968 on, after the Quartet had disbanded, Dave pursued his interest in composing, and he has produced orchestral works, sacred music, ballet scores and soundtracks for television.  His performance career has never stopped, and he has played with baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan as well as with his sons Darius, Dan and Chris – all of whom are accomplished musicians in their own right.  Also, Dave and his suave alto saxophonist partner Paul Desmond did get together for a 25th anniversary reunion in 1976 along with Morello and Wright.  Desmond died in 1977.

I can recall seeing Dave walking along the lakefront in Milwaukee in 1980, heading to a summer concert.  He was striding along, his white hair blowing in the Lake Michigan breeze, chatting with fans and enthusiasts.  Now Dave is a respected and revered master of Jazz.  He continues to write new works and to perform and tour, never retiring even though he has received numerous awards.  In 1994 he was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame.  And in April of 2008 U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice presented him with a “Benjamin Franklin Award for Public Diplomacy” for offering a vision of hope, opportunity and freedom through his music. 

Dave is best known for his improvisational skills and for a unique piano style that can be both soft and bombastic.  His music is known for employing unusual time signatures and varying meters, rhythms and tones.   Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler's Encyclopedia of Jazz tells us that “Brubeck's early piano style, which was often heavy in touch and thick with complex harmonies, evolved in later years into a richer, more melodic, but no less provocative, form of expression.”  His own favorite pianists according to them are Fats Waller, Duke Ellington and Art Tatum. 

I remember well cutting my teeth on Jazz so to speak by listening to the double LP  “Dave Brubeck's All Time Greatest Hits” on the Columbia label.  This record is still a vital part of my collection, having some excellent selections and starting (como no!) with “Take Five.”  This piece is in 5/4 time, and as mentioned it has endured as a classic Jazz standard.  Also, all but two of the sixteen selections that made the cut feature the “classic” guys: Paul Desmond on alto sax, Eugene Wright on bass and Joe Morello on drums.  Some other pieces from this compilation are “Camptown Races,” “Unsquare Dance,” “It's A Raggy Waltz,” and the lovely “Coracao Sensivel,” which showed that the Quartet could do a decent bossa nova rendition.  On all of these the Quartet swings like crazy, Dave's left hand very strong all the way and throwing down the chords like there is no tomorrow.

Next we look briefly at his 1954 release called “Jazz Goes To College.”  Paul Desmond, with his signature distinctive and sweet sound, was already with Dave.  The bass is by Bob Bates and the drums done by Joe Dodge.  My picks from this record are the Brubeck/Desmond compositions “Balcony Rock” and “Le Souk.”  On these two you can hear the Brubeck sound developing, and of course the interplay of improvisation between Paul and Dave was already creating quite a stir.  The folks at Oberlin College got a treat, and Dave was “coming out,” because as we have noted he made the cover of TIME that year.

In terms of the discography I can report that I am fortunate to have three CDs and all of ten vinyl albums by Dave Brubeck and his various quartets.  If I remember rightly, I “inherited” the albums from my brother-in-law, whose neighbor gave him over 200 albums that he had received from a record club but no longer had any use for.  Dave and his quartet did very well with the Columbia Records contract, recording prolifically for many years.  From his many albums for this label I have, in addition to the famous “Time Out,”  “Jazz Impressions of Japan,”  “Time Further Out,”  “Gone With The Wind,” and “Time In Outer Space.”  On the A & M label there is the 25th  Anniversary Concert, and on Direct Lab Disks in 1978 Dave's three sons Darius, Dan and Chris join him for a recording titled “The New Brubeck Quartet – A Cut Above.”  

All of the music is great straight-ahead fare, such  a pleasure to listen to any time.  This is where I can talk about the real hits, those that stand out along with “Take Five.”  The solo recording by Dave on piano of his composition “In Your Own Sweet Way” is a beautiful ballad.  It has become a standard, as has “The Duke,” which is clearly a tip of Dave's cap to the mighty Duke Ellington.   You may hear many versions of “The Duke,” but none quite as nice as Dave's original.  The swing of “The Duke” is simply irresistible, a must hear if you are a fan or curiosity seeker of this music.  “Bossa Nova U.S.A.” was also composed by Dave and recorded in 1962 when this major Brazilian export was gaining its toehold in North America.

Probably the Quartet's second most famous selection is “Blue Rondo a la Turk.”  As the commentators say, this piece plunges straight into the most Jazz-remote time signature, 9/8, grouped not in the usual 3-3-3 form but in 2-2-2-3.  Paul does a fine solo after the introduction, and Dave steps back in with heavy block chords, the song turning into a blues.  “Blue Rondo....” has also achieved Jazz classic status.

In winding up this entry on the great Dave Brubeck, I would like to recount an anecdote related by Dave's wife of over sixty years, Iola.  When Dave was first starting out as a full time Jazz pianist, he took Iola to one of the little dives “on the other side of the tracks” that he liked to play in. At the time he was a struggling young player, and many of his mentors and associates were from the black community.  Iola recalls that in one Jazz club called the “Cool Corner,” where you would never see any white folks, Dave was asked to sit in.  Dave played really well that evening, and the people at the table next to Iola reached over and nudged her saying:  “That boy's got some black blood in him.”  A la Abbey Lincoln, Dave Brubeck has got “some people in him” for sure!

Clearly I have not done justice to the music of Dave's most recent decades, nor have I featured any of his oratorios, ballet scores, etc.  Listening to some of these will certainly be on my list.  And I nearly forgot to mention a DVD gifted to me by a kindred Jazz fan.  It is from the “Jazz Icons” series and showcases the classic quartet in Belgium in 1964 and Germany in 1966.  Dave himself has called the DVD “the best footage of the Classic Quartet that I've ever seen.”  It is such a nice experience to see and hear, and it features some of the famous pieces as well as other good chestnuts like “Three To Get Ready,”  “Koto Song” and  “I'm In A Dancing Mood,” all of  which are associated with Dave's  golden years.

I envy my cousin David who saw and heard Dave in New York this year, but at least I can pull out the DVD or any of the CDs and albums in my collection to immerse myself in the music of this most beautiful of Jazz musicians – the one and only Dave Brubeck.  Required listening!     

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