David Warren Brubeck (/ˈbruːbɛk/; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an Americanjazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent ofcool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusualtime signatures and superimposing contrasting rhythms,meters,tonalities, and combining different styles and genres, likeclassical, jazz, and blues.
Born inConcord, California, Brubeck was drafted into the US Army, but was spared from combat service when aRed Cross show he had played at became a hit. Within the US Army, Brubeck formed one of the firstracially diverse bands. In 1951, he formed the Dave Brubeck Quartet, which kept its name despite shifting personnel. The most successful—and prolific—lineup of the quartet was the one between 1958 and 1967. This lineup, in addition to Brubeck, featured saxophonistPaul Desmond, bassistEugene Wright and drummerJoe Morello. AU.S. Department of State-sponsored tour in 1958 featuring the band inspired several of Brubeck's subsequent albums, most notably the 1959 albumTime Out. Despite its esoteric theme and contrarian time signatures,Time Out became Brubeck's highest-selling album, and the first jazz album to sell over one million copies. The lead single from the album, "Take Five", a tune written by Desmond in5 4 time, similarly became the highest-selling jazz single of all time.[1][2][3] The quartet followed upTime Out with four other albums in non-standard time signatures, and some of the other songs from this series became hits as well, including "Blue Rondo à la Turk" (in9 8) and "Unsquare Dance" (in7 4). Brubeck continued releasing music until his death in 2012.
Brubeck's style ranged from refined to bombastic, reflecting both his mother's classical training and his own improvisational skills. He expressed elements of atonality and fugue. Brubeck, with Desmond, used elements ofWest Coast jazz near the height of its popularity, combining them with the unorthodox time signatures seen inTime Out. Like many of his contemporaries, Brubeck played into the style of the French composerDarius Milhaud, especially his earlier works, including "Serenade Suite" and "Playland-At-The-Beach". Brubeck's fusion ofclassical music and jazz would come to be known as "third stream", although Brubeck's use of third stream would predate the coining of the term.John Fordham ofThe Guardian commented: "Brubeck's real achievement was to blend European compositional ideas, very demanding rhythmic structures, jazz song-forms, and improvisation in expressive and accessible ways."[4]
Brubeck had paternal Swiss ancestry (the family surname was originallyBrodbeck),[6] and his maternal grandparents were English and German.[7][8][9] He was born on December 6, 1920, inConcord, California,[1] and grew up in the rural town ofIone, California. His father, Peter Howard "Pete" Brubeck, was acattle rancher. His mother, Elizabeth (née Ivey), had studied piano in England underMyra Hess and intended to become aconcert pianist. She taught piano for extra money.[10]
Brubeck did not intend to become a musician, although his two older brothers, Henry andHoward, were already on that track. Brubeck did, however, take lessons from his mother. He could notread music during these early lessons, attributing the difficulty to poor eyesight, but "faked" his way through well enough that his deficiency went mostly unnoticed.[11]
Planning to work with his father on their ranch, Brubeck entered the liberal arts collegeCollege of the Pacific inStockton, California, in 1938 to studyveterinary science. He switched his major to music at the urging of the head ofzoology at the time, Dr. Arnold, who told him, "Brubeck, your mind's not here. It's across the lawn in theconservatory. Please go there. Stop wasting my time and yours."[12] Later, Brubeck was nearly expelled when one of his music professors discovered that he was unable tosight-read. Several others came forward to his defense, however, arguing that his ability to writecounterpoint andharmony more than compensated, and demonstrated his skill with music notation. The college was still concerned, but agreed to allow Brubeck to graduate after he promised never to teach piano.[13]
After graduating in 1942, Brubeck was drafted into theUnited States Army, serving in Europe in theThird Army underGeorge S. Patton. He volunteered to play piano at aRed Cross show; the show was a resounding success, and Brubeck was spared from combat service. He created one of the U.S. armed forces' firstracially integrated bands, "The Wolfpack".[13] It was in the military, in 1944, that Brubeck metPaul Desmond.[14]
After serving nearly four years in the army, he returned to California for graduate study atMills College in Oakland. He was a student of composerDarius Milhaud, who encouraged him to studyfugue andorchestration, but not classical piano. While on active duty, he had received two lessons fromArnold Schoenberg atUCLA in an attempt to connect withhigh modernist theory and practice.[15] However, the encounter did not end on good terms since Schoenberg believed that every note should be accounted for, an approach that Brubeck could not accept.
But, according to his son Chris Brubeck, there is a twelve-tone row inThe Light in the Wilderness, Dave Brubeck's first oratorio. In it, Jesus's TwelveDisciples are introduced, each singing their own individual notes; it is described as "quite dramatic, especially when Judas starts singing 'Repent' on a high and straining dissonant note".[16]
Jack Sheedy owned San Francisco-based Coronet Records, which had previously recorded areaDixieland bands. (This Coronet Records is distinct from the late 1950s New York-based budget label, and also from Australia-basedCoronet Records.) In 1949, Sheedy was convinced to make the first recording of Brubeck's octet and later his trio. But Sheedy was unable to pay his bills and in 1949 gave up hismasters to his record stamping company, the Circle Record Company, owned by Max and Sol Weiss. The Weiss brothers soon changed the name of their business toFantasy Records.
The first Brubeck records sold well, and he made new records for Fantasy. Soon the company was shipping 40,000 to 50,000 copies of Brubeck records each quarter, making a good profit.[17]
In 1951, Brubeck organized the Dave Brubeck Quartet, with Paul Desmond on alto saxophone. The two took up residency at San Francisco'sBlack Hawk nightclub and had success touring college campuses, recording a series oflive albums.
The first of these live albums,Jazz at Oberlin, was recorded in March 1953 in the Finney Chapel atOberlin College. Brubeck's live performance was credited with legitimizing the field of jazz music at Oberlin, and the album is one of the earliest examples ofcool jazz.[18][19] Brubeck returned to College of the Pacific to recordJazz at the College of the Pacific in December of that year.
Following the release ofJazz at the College of the Pacific, Brubeck signed with Fantasy Records, believing that he had a stake in the company. He worked as anartists and repertoire promoter for the label, encouraging the Weiss brothers to sign other contemporary jazz performers, includingGerry Mulligan,Chet Baker andRed Norvo. Upon discovering that the deal was for a half interest in his own recordings, Brubeck quit to sign with another label,Columbia Records.[20]
In June 1954, Brubeck releasedJazz Goes to College, with double bassistBob Bates and drummerJoe Dodge. The album is a compilation of the quartet's visits to three colleges: Oberlin College,University of Michigan, andUniversity of Cincinnati, and features seven songs, two of which were written by Brubeck and Desmond. "Balcony Rock", the opening song on the album, was noted for itstiming and uneven tonalities, themes that would be explored by Brubeck later.[21]
Brubeck was featured on the cover ofTime in November 1954, the second jazz musician to be featured, followingLouis Armstrong in February 1949.[22] Brubeck personally found this acclaim embarrassing, since he consideredDuke Ellington more deserving and was convinced that he had been favored as a white man.[23] In one encounter with Ellington, he knocked on the door of Brubeck's hotel room to show him the cover; Brubeck's response was, "It should have been you."[24]
Early bassists for the group included Ron Crotty, Bates, and Bates's brotherNorman; Lloyd Davis and Dodge held the drum chair. In 1956, Brubeck hired drummerJoe Morello, who had been working with pianistMarian McPartland; Morello's presence made possible the rhythmic experiments that were to come.
In 1958, African-American bassistEugene Wright joined for the group'sDepartment of State tour of Europe and Asia.[25] The group visited Poland, Turkey, India,Ceylon, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq on behalf of the Department of State. They spent two weeks in Poland, giving thirteen concerts and visiting with Polish musicians and citizens as part of the People-to-People program.[26] Wright became a permanent member in 1959, finishing the "classic era" of the quartet's personnel. During this time, Brubeck was strongly supportive of Wright's inclusion in the band, and reportedly canceled several concerts when the club owners or hall managers objected to presenting an integrated band. He also canceled a television appearance when he found out that the producers intended to keep Wright off-camera.[27] In January 1960, he canceled a 25-date tour of colleges and universities in theAmerican South because 22 of the schools refused to allow Wright to perform.[28]
In 1959, the Dave Brubeck Quartet recordedTime Out. The album, which featured pieces entirely written by members of the quartet, notably uses unusualtime signatures—especially for jazz—something which Columbia Records was enthusiastic about, but they were nonetheless hesitant to release.[29]
The release ofTime Out required the cooperation of Columbia Records presidentGoddard Lieberson, who underwrote and releasedTime Out, on the condition that the quartet record a conventional album of theAmerican South,Gone with the Wind, to cover the risk ofTime Out becoming acommercial failure.[29]
Featuring the cover art ofS. Neil Fujita,Time Out was released in December 1959, to negative critical reception.[30] Nonetheless, on the strength of these unusual time signatures, the album quickly wentGold (and was eventually certified Double Platinum), and peaked at number two on theBillboard 200. It was the first jazz album to sell more than a million copies.[31] The single "Take Five" from the album quickly became ajazz standard, despite its unusual composition and its time signature:5 4 time.
Time Out was followed by several albums with a similar approach, includingTime Further Out: Miro Reflections (1961), using more5 4,6 4, and9 8, plus the first attempt at7 4;Countdown—Time in Outer Space (dedicated toJohn Glenn, 1962), featuring11 4 and more7 4;Time Changes (1963), with much3 4,10 4 and13 4; andTime In (1966). These albums (exceptTime In) were also known for using contemporary paintings as cover art, featuring the work ofJoan Miró onTime Further Out,Franz Kline onTime in Outer Space, andSam Francis onTime Changes.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1967. From left to right: Joe Morello, Eugene Wright, Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond
On a handful of albums in the early 1960s, clarinetistBill Smith replaced Desmond. These albums were devoted to Smith's compositions and thus had a somewhat different aesthetic than other Brubeck Quartet albums. Nonetheless, according to critic Ken Dryden, "[Smith] proves himself very much in Desmond's league with his witty solos".[32] Smith was an old friend of Brubeck's; they would record together, intermittently, from the 1940s until the final years of Brubeck's career.
In 1961, Brubeck and his wife, Iola, developed a jazz musical,The Real Ambassadors, based in part on experiences they and their colleagues had during foreign tours on behalf of the Department of State. The soundtrack album, which featured Louis Armstrong,Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, andCarmen McRae was recorded in 1961; the musical was performed at the 1962Monterey Jazz Festival.
At its peak in the early 1960s, the Brubeck Quartet was releasing as many as four albums a year. Apart from the "College" and the "Time" series, Brubeck recorded fourLP records featuring his compositions based on the group's travels, and the local music they encountered.Jazz Impressions of the U.S.A. (1956, Morello's debut with the group),Jazz Impressions of Eurasia (1958),Jazz Impressions of Japan (1964), andJazz Impressions of New York (1964) are less well-known albums, but they produced Brubeck standards such as "Summer Song", "Brandenburg Gate", "Koto Song", and "Theme from Mr. Broadway". (Brubeck wrote, and the Quartet performed, the theme song for thisCraig Stevens CBS drama series; the music from the series became material for theNew York album.)
In 1961, Brubeck appeared in a few scenes of the British jazz/beat filmAll Night Long, which starredPatrick McGoohan andRichard Attenborough. Brubeck plays himself, with the film featuringclose-ups of his piano fingerings. Brubeck performs "It's a Raggy Waltz" from theTime Further Out album and duets briefly with bassistCharles Mingus in "Non-Sectarian Blues".
Brubeck also served as the program director of WJZZ-FM (nowWEZN-FM) while recording for the quartet. 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.
The final studio album for Columbia by the Desmond/Wright/Morello quartet wasAnything Goes (1966), featuring the songs ofCole Porter. A few concert recordings followed, andThe Last Time We Saw Paris (1967) was the "Classic" quartet's swan-song.
Brubeck producedThe Gates of Justice in 1968, acantata mixingBiblical scripture with the words ofMartin Luther King Jr. In 1971, the new senior management at Columbia Records decided not to renew Brubeck's contract, as they wished to focus on rock music. He moved to Atlantic Records.[33]
Brubeck's music was used in the 1985 filmOrdeal by Innocence. He also composed for—and performed with his ensemble on—"The NASA Space Station", a 1988 episode of the CBS TV seriesThis Is America, Charlie Brown.[34]
Brubeck in 2004Brubeck inLudwigshafen, Germany, in 2005
Brubeck founded the Brubeck Institute in 2000 with his wife, Iola, at their alma mater, theUniversity of the Pacific. What began as a special archive, consisting of the personal document collection of the Brubecks, has since expanded to provide fellowships and educational opportunities in jazz for students. One of the main streets on which the school resides is named in his honor, Dave Brubeck Way.[35]
In 2008, Brubeck became a supporter of theJazz Foundation of America in its mission to save the homes and the lives of elderly jazz and blues musicians, including those who had survivedHurricane Katrina.[36] Brubeck supported the Jazz Foundation by performing in its annual benefit concert "A Great Night in Harlem".[37]
Dave Brubeck married jazz lyricist Iola Whitlock in September 1942; the couple were married for 70 years, until his death in 2012. Iola died at age 90 on March 12, 2014, from cancer inWilton, Connecticut.[38][39]
Brubeck and Iola had six children, including a daughter, Catherine. Four of their sons became professional musicians. The eldest,Darius, named after Brubeck's mentor Darius Milhaud, is a pianist, producer, educator and performer.[40] Dan is a percussionist,Chris is a multi-instrumentalist and composer, andMatthew, the youngest, is acellist, with an extensive list of composing and performance credits. Another son, Michael, died in 2009.[41][42] Brubeck's children often joined him in concerts and in the recording studio.
Brubeck became a Catholic in 1980, shortly after completing the MassTo Hope, which had been commissioned by Ed Murray, editor of the national Catholic weeklyOur Sunday Visitor. Although he had spiritual interests before that time, he said, "I didn't convert to Catholicism, because I wasn't anything to convert from. I just joined the Catholic Church."[43]
In 1996, he received theGrammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2006, Brubeck was awarded theUniversity of Notre Dame'sLaetare Medal, the oldest and most prestigious[44] honor given to American Catholics, during the university's commencement. He performed "Travellin' Blues" for the graduating class of 2006.
Brubeck died of heart failure on December 5, 2012, inNorwalk, Connecticut, one day before his 92nd birthday. He was en route to a cardiology appointment, accompanied by his son Darius.[45] A birthday party concert had been planned for him with family and famous guests.[46] A memorial tribute was held in May 2013.[47]
TheLos Angeles Times noted that he "was one of Jazz's first pop stars", even though he was not always happy with his fame. He felt uncomfortable, for example, thatTime magazine had featured him on the cover[50] before it did so for Duke Ellington, saying, "It just bothered me."[5]The New York Times noted he had continued to play well into his old age, performing in 2011 and in 2010 only a month after getting apacemaker, withTimes music writer Nate Chinen commenting that Brubeck had replaced "the old hammer-and-anvil attack with something almost airy" and that his playing at theBlue Note Jazz Club in New York City was "the picture of judicious clarity".[42]
InThe Daily Telegraph, music journalist Ivan Hewett wrote: "Brubeck didn't have the réclame of some jazz musicians who lead tragic lives. He didn't do drugs or drink. What he had was endless curiosity combined with stubbornness", adding: "His work list is astonishing, including oratorios, musicals and concertos, as well as hundreds of jazz compositions. This quiet man of jazz was truly a marvel."[51]
InThe Guardian, John Fordham said: "Brubeck's real achievement was to blend European compositional ideas, very demanding rhythmic structures, jazz song-forms and improvisation in expressive and accessible ways. His son Chris toldThe Guardian: "when I hear Chorale, it reminds me of the very bestAaron Copland, something likeAppalachian Spring. There's a sort of American honesty to it."[4]Robert Christgau dubbed Brubeck the "jazz hero of the rock and roll generation".[52]
The Economist wrote: "Above all they found it hard to believe that the most successful jazz in America was being played by a family man, a laid-back Californian, modest, gentle and open, who would happily have been a rancher all his days—except that he couldn't live without performing, because the rhythm of jazz, under all his extrapolation and exploration, was, he had discovered, the rhythm of his heart."[53]
In the United States,May 4 is informally observed as "Dave Brubeck Day". In theformat most commonly used in the U.S., May 4 is written "5/4", recalling the time signature of "Take Five", Brubeck's best-known recording.[55] In September 2019, musicologist Stephen A. Crist's book,Dave Brubeck's Time Out, provided the first scholarly book-length analysis of the seminal album. In addition to his musical analyses of each of the album's original compositions, Crist provides insight into Brubeck's career during a time he was rising to the top of the jazz charts.[56]
Brubeck (third from left), amongKennedy Center honorees 2009, flanked by President and Mrs. Obama at the Blue Room,White House, December 6, 2009 (his 89th birthday)
Brubeck recorded five of the seven tracks of his albumJazz Goes to College inAnn Arbor, Michigan. He returned to Michigan many times, including a performance at Hill Auditorium where he received a Distinguished Artist Award from the University of Michigan's Musical Society in 2006. Brubeck was presented with a "Benjamin Franklin Award for Public Diplomacy" byUnited States Secretary of StateCondoleezza Rice in 2008 for offering an American "vision of hope, opportunity and freedom" through his music.[58] "As a little girl I grew up on the sounds of Dave Brubeck because my dad was your biggest fan," said Rice.[59] TheState Department said in a statement that "as a pianist, composer, cultural emissary and educator, Dave Brubeck's life's work exemplifies the best of America's cultural diplomacy".[58] At the ceremony, Brubeck played a brief recital for the audience at the State Department.[58] "I want to thank all of you because this honor is something that I never expected. Now I am going to play a cold piano with cold hands," Brubeck stated.[58]
In September 2009, theKennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced Brubeck as aKennedy Center Honoree for exhibiting excellence in performance arts.[63] The Kennedy Center Honors Gala took place on Sunday, December 6 (Brubeck's 89th birthday), and was broadcast nationwide onCBS on December 29 at 9:00 pm EST. When the award was made, PresidentBarack Obama recalled a 1971 concert Brubeck had given inHonolulu and said, "You can't understand America without understanding jazz, and you can't understand jazz without understanding Dave Brubeck."[41]
The Concord Boulevard Park in his hometown of Concord, California, was posthumously renamed to "Dave Brubeck Memorial Park" in his honor. Mayor Dan Helix favorably recalled one of his performances at the park, saying: "He will be with us forever because his music will never die."[66]
^and possibly Native American Modoc Tribe – see: paragraph one, of the second page of the Dave Brubeck interview by Martin Totusek inCadence Magazine – The Review of Jazz & Blues, December 1994, Vol. 20 No. 12, pp. 5–17
^Storb, Ilse (2000).Jazz meets the world – the world meets Jazz, Volume 4 of Populäre Musik und Jazz in der Forschung. LIT Verlag Berlin-Hamburg-Münster. p. 129.ISBN3-8258-3748-3.
^Gioia, Ted. "Dave Brubeck and Modern Jazz in San Francisco" inWest Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz in California 1945–1960, University of California Press, Berkeley, Calif., 1998 (reprint of 1962 edition), pp. 63–64.
^"The San Francisco Scene in the 1950s", West Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz in California 1945–1960, Ted Gioia, University of California Press, Berkeley, Calif., 1998 (reprint of 1962 edition), pp. 94–95.
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