Paying Attention To Brubeck
Our webmaster, Jason, writes:
I have a new day job that finds me on the road a lot. The other day I was in a store and Dave Brubeck was playing in the background. It got me thinking about how many people use music like Brubeck’s — and his music in particular — as aural wallpaper.
But there’s a lot happening inside any Brubeck piece. From the harmonic and rhythmic sophistication of Dave’s piano playing to the otherworldly beauty of Paul Desmond’s saxophone. Not to mention the playing of folks like Eugene Wright and Joe Morello from his classic quartet.
Here a few of my favorites, written and/or performed by Dave Brubeck. Let me know your favorites in the comment section.
4 Responses
Dear yoko,
I have known Dave Brubeck’s music for over 50 years…I also have read the famous Nat Hentoff piece the the Village Voice when Paul Desmond was dying of lung cancer and was visited by Miles and Mingus at his apartment in the Village. Please take care of Sheila Jordan who I met with the Mark Harvey Quartet at the Emmanuel Church years ago…all of the best to you…I also used to get Christmas cards from my friend Jay Mcshann …you know Charlie Parker’s mentor….G
Hi Gerard,
Thank you for the message. I will take care of Sheila but she’s pretty independent 🙂 spend most of my time just keeping up with her! -Yoko 🙂
Thank you so much for posting that lovely video of “It’s a Raggy Waltz.” Brubeck is chronically underestimated; ditto Paul Desmond. I have a Fantasy LP (red vinyl) of Brubeck & Desmond playing at Storyville in Boston in 1952 that after countless listenings, never gets old.
What a great post to spur conversation. I love Dave Brubeck, but it’s always hard for me to pick a favorite between him, Bill Evans, and Chick Corea. For me, I always lean slightly to Brubeck because I think his influence on the culture and on the music has been the biggest and most significant, and the greatness and “genius” of his work has stood the test of time. Very few albums can match the importance of “Time Out” and by that I mean the full album and the single. Brubeck was a true master and an American music treasure. I mean is there a jazz musician in this world that hasn’t been influenced in some way, large or small by Dave Brubeck. He was the intellectual high priest of jazz, and the fact that Miles Davis, my favorite jazz musician of the era, had such great respect for him, says it all, as Miles was not easy to impress. If you want to teach somebody to fall in love with jazz just give them Miles’s “Kind of Blue” and Brubeck’s
Time Out” and they will be hooked. Brubeck was the best.