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Dave Brubeck
Albums
This five-CD box set collects all five of the Dave Brubeck Quartet's {#Time} series recordings: Time Out, Time Further Out, Countdown: Time in Outer Space, Time Changes, and Time In, [more]
- Member Price: $44.98
"Every so often you're lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. And we were the lucky ones, those of us who were in Carnegie Hall on Friday night, February 22, 1963. That was the night the Dave Brubeck Quartet reached swinging heights few of us had ever heard it attain before. It began predictably as a good Brubeck concert, but nothing out of the ordinary. We were all there on this Washington's Birthday because we like to listen to Brubeck, and we were hearing pretty much what we had expected to hear. And so we were satisfied. Then suddenly it happened-right after the start of the third number. Don't ask why. Probably nobody can explain it. But it happened all right, and what had begun as a quite good Brubeck concert burst abruptly into a truly great one. From then on, this turned out to be the night the Dave Brubeck Quartet was really swinging. This was the night it fell into a groove few, if any of us, had ever realized it could find. This was one of those nights when everything turned out right. During intermission I sat with Dave and Paul Desmond in their dressing room. They were very happy. A great rapport had been established, because they were feeling exactly what we had been feeling out front. They knew even better than we did that this was a special night. Some days later Dave, still exultant about what had happened at Carnegie Hall, remarked, 'The group had reached swinging heights like that before. What was lucky is that this concert was recorded!'"
For all those who have a big axe to grind with Brubeck, for all those who claim the band was only successful because they were predominantly white, or played [more]
- List Price: $33.98
- Member Price: $23.96
Out of the 13 selections included on this double CD, six were originally released just in Europe, two ("Out of Nowhere" and "Mexican Jumping [more]
- List Price: $33.98
- Member Price: $23.96
Four of the five selections on Brandenburg Gate: Revisited (1963) are new interpretations of Dave Brubeck (piano) classics scored by the pianist's older sibling, Howard [more]
- List Price: $16.99
- Member Price: $11.98
The Dave Brubeck-Gerry Mulligan quartet is heard in a very inspired performance at the Newport Jazz Festival, just a short time before a riot by the audience closed the festival. [more]
- List Price: $17.99
- Member Price: $11.98
In 1998, Columbia reissued a bunch of CDs by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, often adding one or two previously unissued selections to the sets. [more]
- List Price: $16.98
- Member Price: $11.98
When Jimmy starts to sing, with a big band, small band or all-star group, every musician swings just a little bit harder. Jimmy is contagious! I consider it a privilege to provide a background in this album for Jimmy Rushing's voice. We didn't want to intrude on his style, simply to provide an accompaniment which would make him free. There were no suggestions as to how we should play behind him. We only knew that in working with Jimmy, we would have to rely on instinct to follow the feeling of the moment, to help him build the mood that he creates in a song. Jimmy is the daddy of them all. -Dave Brubeck
Although associated with the more modern styles of jazz, Brubeck always had a great respect (if not reverence) for the masters of the past. On ten [more]
- List Price: $16.99
- Member Price: $11.98
This CD contains the original LP of the same name plus two previously unissued songs ("Very Good Advice" and "So This Is Love"). Inspired by a trip with his family to Disneyland, [more]
- List Price: $15.98
- Member Price: $11.98
This excellent CD reissues the LP Brubeck Time plus half of Red Hot and Cool. One of the few early studio (as opposed to club) recordings by [more]
- List Price: $16.99
- Member Price: $11.98
Dave Brubeck (piano) began his Columbia Records association on a second album of material that his quartet had cut during its spring of 1954 tour of North American [more]
- List Price: $15.98
- Member Price: $11.98
Appearances
This five-CD box set collects all five of the Dave Brubeck Quartet's {#Time} series recordings: Time Out, Time Further Out, Countdown: Time in Outer Space, Time Changes, and Time In, [more]
- Member Price: $44.98
"Every so often you're lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. And we were the lucky ones, those of us who were in Carnegie Hall on Friday night, February 22, 1963. That was the night the Dave Brubeck Quartet reached swinging heights few of us had ever heard it attain before. It began predictably as a good Brubeck concert, but nothing out of the ordinary. We were all there on this Washington's Birthday because we like to listen to Brubeck, and we were hearing pretty much what we had expected to hear. And so we were satisfied. Then suddenly it happened-right after the start of the third number. Don't ask why. Probably nobody can explain it. But it happened all right, and what had begun as a quite good Brubeck concert burst abruptly into a truly great one. From then on, this turned out to be the night the Dave Brubeck Quartet was really swinging. This was the night it fell into a groove few, if any of us, had ever realized it could find. This was one of those nights when everything turned out right. During intermission I sat with Dave and Paul Desmond in their dressing room. They were very happy. A great rapport had been established, because they were feeling exactly what we had been feeling out front. They knew even better than we did that this was a special night. Some days later Dave, still exultant about what had happened at Carnegie Hall, remarked, 'The group had reached swinging heights like that before. What was lucky is that this concert was recorded!'"
For all those who have a big axe to grind with Brubeck, for all those who claim the band was only successful because they were predominantly white, or played [more]
- List Price: $33.98
- Member Price: $23.96
Out of the 13 selections included on this double CD, six were originally released just in Europe, two ("Out of Nowhere" and "Mexican Jumping [more]
- List Price: $33.98
- Member Price: $23.96
As he left Ellington said, 'It was lovely.' At 8:00 a.m., he and his band were off to an engagement in Oklahoma City. For Duke, it was back to business as usual, but, as Whitney Balliett wrote in The New Yorker, the maestro 'was finally given his due by his country.' -Doug Ramsey
One of the undeniable highlights of President Richard Nixon's administration was the 1969 White House gala celebrating Duke Ellington's 70th birthday, though jazz [more]
- List Price: $16.99
- Member Price: $11.98
Four of the five selections on Brandenburg Gate: Revisited (1963) are new interpretations of Dave Brubeck (piano) classics scored by the pianist's older sibling, Howard [more]
- List Price: $16.99
- Member Price: $11.98
The Dave Brubeck-Gerry Mulligan quartet is heard in a very inspired performance at the Newport Jazz Festival, just a short time before a riot by the audience closed the festival. [more]
- List Price: $17.99
- Member Price: $11.98
In 1998, Columbia reissued a bunch of CDs by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, often adding one or two previously unissued selections to the sets. [more]
- List Price: $16.98
- Member Price: $11.98
When Jimmy starts to sing, with a big band, small band or all-star group, every musician swings just a little bit harder. Jimmy is contagious! I consider it a privilege to provide a background in this album for Jimmy Rushing's voice. We didn't want to intrude on his style, simply to provide an accompaniment which would make him free. There were no suggestions as to how we should play behind him. We only knew that in working with Jimmy, we would have to rely on instinct to follow the feeling of the moment, to help him build the mood that he creates in a song. Jimmy is the daddy of them all. -Dave Brubeck
Although associated with the more modern styles of jazz, Brubeck always had a great respect (if not reverence) for the masters of the past. On ten [more]
- List Price: $16.99
- Member Price: $11.98
![Jazz Christmas [Music Masters]](/cache/JS/c5/130x130_on-sale_c51060xo75w.png)
Although it's hardly a standout holiday record, Jazz Christmas is an entertaining collection of classic Christmas albums performed in a lightly swinging, soul-jazz style. ~ Leo Stanley, All Music Guide
- List Price: $16.99
- Member Price: $11.98
This CD contains the original LP of the same name plus two previously unissued songs ("Very Good Advice" and "So This Is Love"). Inspired by a trip with his family to Disneyland, [more]
- List Price: $15.98
- Member Price: $11.98
Biography
- Born Dec 6th 1920 in Concord, CA
Dave Brubeck has long served as proof that creative jazz and popular success can go together. Although critics who had championed him when he was unknown seemed to scorn him when the Dave Brubeck Quartet became a surprise success, in reality Brubeck never watered down or altered his music in order to gain a wide audience. Creative booking (being one of the first groups to play regularly on college campuses) and a bit of luck resulted in great popularity, and Dave Brubeck remains one of the few household names in jazz.
From nearly the start, Brubeck enjoyed utilizing poly-rhythms and poly-tonality (playing in two keys at once). He had classical training from his mother, but fooled her for a long period by memorizing his lessons and not learning to read music. He studied music at the College of the Pacific during 1938-1942. Brubeck led a service band in General Patton's Army during World War II and then, in 1946, he started studying at Mills College with the classical composer Darius Milhaud, who encouraged his students to play jazz. During 1946-1949, Brubeck led a group mostly consisting of fellow classmates, and they recorded as the Dave Brubeck Octet; their music (released on Fantasy in 1951) still sounds advanced today, with complex time signatures and some poly-tonality. The octet was too radical to get much work, so Brubeck formed a trio with drummer Cal Tjader (who doubled on vibes) and bassist Ron Crotty. The trio's Fantasy recordings of 1949-1951 were quite popular in the Bay Area, but the group came to an end when Brubeck hurt his back during a serious swimming accident and was put out of action for months.
Upon his return in 1951, Brubeck was persuaded by altoist Paul Desmond to make the group a quartet. Within two years, the band had become surprisingly popular. Desmond's cool-toned alto and quick wit fit in well with Brubeck's often heavy chording and experimental playing; both Brubeck and Desmond had original sounds and styles that owed little to their predecessors. Joe Dodge was the band's early drummer but, after he tired of the road, the virtuosic Joe Morello took his place in 1956; while the revolving bass chair finally settled on Eugene Wright in 1958. By then, Brubeck had followed his popular series of Fantasy recordings with some big sellers on Columbia, and had appeared on the cover of Time (1954). The huge success of Paul Desmond's "Take Five" (1960) was followed by many songs played in "odd" time signatures such as 7/4 and 9/8; the high-quality soloing of the musicians kept these experiments from sounding like gimmicks. Dave and Iola Brubeck (his wife and lyricist) put together an anti-racism show featuring Louis Armstrong (The Real Ambassadors) which was recorded, but its only public appearance was at the Monterey Jazz Festival in the early '60s.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet constantly traveled around the world until its breakup in 1967. After some time off, during which he wrote religious works, Brubeck came back the following year with a new quartet featuring Gerry Mulligan, although he would have several reunions with Desmond before the altoist's death in 1977. Brubeck joined with his sons Darius (keyboards), Chris (electric bass and bass trombone), and Danny (drums) in Two Generations of Brubeck in the 1970s. In the early '80s, tenor saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi was in the Brubeck Quartet, and beginning in the mid-'80s, clarinetist Bill Smith (who was in the original octet) alternated with altoist Bobby Militello.
There is no shortage of Dave Brubeck records currently available, practically everything he cut for Fantasy, Columbia, Concord, and Telarc are easy to locate. Brubeck, whose compositions "In Your Own Sweet Way," "The Duke," and "Blue Rondo a la Turk" have become standards, remained very busy (despite some bouts of bad health) into the 2000s. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
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