You're right.

Wow. Just talking to a friend yesterday about him. Been listening to Christmas music compilation in my car and the Brubeck Christmas album has long been a favorite of mine. (along with his other great stuff)

Take 5...... Dave, take as long as you want.

At the age of 10, he turned my 5/4 world upside down. "So that's Jazz?! - huh, who'd have thought.

Grazie

Take 5 (1959) was my first exposure to 5/4 meter, and I got it.
I was a beginning drummer in 5th grade band at the time.
My dad's LP got played to death, but I have it on CD, along with Kind of Blue (Davis) and some other mega classics.

"My dad's LP got played to death, but I have it on CD, along with Kind of Blue (Davis) ..."

musicvid

You and your dad have good taste in music.

He instilled a lifelong love of jazz. Everything from Jelly Roll Morton to Armstrong and Ella, Duke, Parker, Brubeck and Davis, Bill Evans, Errol Garner, Aretha, and even liked my Corea and Weather Report albums later on. My favorite singer/pianist was and still is Nat Cole (1919 –1965). Memories of his weekly TV show have stuck with me since the late 50's. He was undermentioned as an accomplished jazz pianist. Favorite young polyrhythmic pianist today is Matt Savage. Like Brubeck in hyperspace. Met him and his mother after a concert.

Take Five:


My first exposure to 5/4 too.
RIP.

Paul.

Dave Brubeck was a:

Great musician,
Great song writer,
Great artist/performer/band leader,
Great father, and
Great all around human being.

An example of the latter was shown during his service in the US Army during WWII. He was allowed/ordered to assemble a jazz ensemble to entertain the troops. When the military brass saw that he had a black guy in his band, they told him to "get rid of the negro" because it violates the Army's strict racial segregation policy. He said, "OK"..."if I can't hire the musicians I need for my band, then I just won't play". "I don't care what race he is...I need the best musicians I can get...and besides, he's good friend of mine". The army brass finally relented and allowed him to keep his band intact. His band was the first racially integrated popular music ensemble in the Army during the war.

The great irony of World War II was the stated claim of the US Government that we were "Fighting the War For Freedom and Democracy". Back home, america's black population (of approximately 15 million people) enjoyed very little freedom and virtually no democracy. Also, while we were conducting the war, our official policy for all branches of the military was Strict Racial Segregation. "Fighting for Freedom and Democracy"? Well, that fight continued at home long after the war.

Yes, Dave Brubeck was a Great Human Being.

Saw him mid-70s. Also saw Acker Bilk in the same era, slightly different genres, but both greats in their own ways.

geoff

I stage managed a concert Brubeck played on Cape Cod in 1962. The man made some great music.

Jack

I had the privilege to have met Dave once in the 1970's through a mutual friend who knew his daughter Kathy. He was an incredibly warm and approachable person and took the time to talk with young musicians like myself at the time.

I still have my original copy of Time Out, the album that featured songs like "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo a la Turk" (in the first video above) which was in 9/8 but it wasn't played as 3-3-3 it was played as 2-2-2-3 and was my first introduction jazz and odd time signatures it really freaked me out. That record really was a study in "time" and Dave was the master at it. He will be missed.

~jr

Back in 1970, I had a privilege to listen to Dave Brubeck and Gerry Mulligan Quartet live at the Jazz Jamboree Festival in Warsaw. Being a great jazz fan in my high school and university days, I attended the Festival every year.... It was sort of a window open to the free world in the behind-the-iron-curtain reality of Poland...

Piotr