Dave Brubeck - "His Music Gave Jazz New Pop"

[geckosfeet]

Nice short retrospective on the life of this fine musician.

I did have the pleasure of seeing him perform once. He must have been in his late 70's early 80's and he gave a wonderful performance.

Dave Brubeck, the pianist and composer who helped make jazz popular again in the 1950s and ’60s with recordings like “Time Out,” the first jazz album to sell a million copies, and “Take Five,” the still instantly recognizable hit single that was that album’s centerpiece, died on Wednesday in Norwalk, Conn. He would have turned 92 on Thursday.

His Music Gave Jazz New Pop

He died while on his way to a cardiology appointment, Russell Gloyd, his producer, conductor and manager for 36 years, said. Mr. Brubeck lived in Wilton, Conn.

In a long and successful career, Mr. Brubeck brought a distinctive mixture of experimentation and accessibility that won over listeners who had been trained to the sonic dimensions of the three-minute pop single.

Mr. Brubeck experimented with time signatures and polytonality and explored musical theater and the oratorio, baroque compositional devices and foreign modes. He did not always please the critics, who often described his music as schematic, bombastic and — a word he particularly disliked — stolid. But his very stubbornness and strangeness — the blockiness of his playing, the oppositional push-and-pull between his piano and Paul Desmond’s alto saxophone — make the Brubeck quartet’s best work still sound original.

[BlueJazz]

1. I believe (?) I've got every album/cd he and Paul Desmond ever made.

He is wonderful.

[geckosfeet]

2. Nice.

I have the classic Time Out and one or two others but really enjoy his music. The first few notes of Take Five are so recognizable.

[htuttle]

3. That song has been a challenge for many a young percussionist

I didn't hear too much jazz where I grew up, but everyone had heard Take Five.

It took me a while before I could even figure out how to tap my foot to it. There were just one too many beats.

[TM99]

8. I have them all as well

As a young classically trained pianist, I simply fell in love with Brubeck's accessible and challenging jazz piano. He influenced me in ways that I can never properly thank the man for doing.

What a sad day and a tragic loss for jazz keyboardists everywhere.

[6spokewheels]

4. Never to be forgotten....

"Take Five" is one of the greatest songs ever, in my humble opinion.

May you Rest In Peace, Dave Brubeck. Thank you for everything.

[hrmjustin]

5. Welcome to DU!

[niyad]

7. agreed, and welcome to DU

[kwassa]

6. My piano teacher gave me Brubeck arrangementst to play

As a child in the '60s, I didn't like classical music, though I do now.

I played pieces from "Jazz Impressions of Eurasia". I had the album and the songbook.

I still love his music. Great guy, great musician. Great life.