Dave Brubeck

THE DEFINITIVE, INVESTIGATIVE BIOGRAPHY OFJAZZ LEGENDDAVE BRUBECK("TAKE FIVE") In 2003, music journalist Philip Clark was granted unparalleled access to jazz legend Dave Brubeck. Over the course of ten days, he shadowed the Dave Brubeck Quartet during their extended British tour, recording an epic interview with the bandleader. Brubeck opened up as never before, disclosing his unique approach to jazz; the heady days of his "classic" quartet in the 1950s-60s; hanging out with Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong, and Miles Davis; and the many controversies that had dogged his 66-yearlong career. Alongside beloved figures like Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra, Brubeck has achieved name recognition beyond jazz. But finding a convincing fit for Brubeck's legacy, one that reconciles his mass popularity with his advanced musical technique, has proved largely elusive. In Dave Brubeck: A Life inTime, Clark provides us with a thoughtful, thorough, and long-overdue biography of an extraordinary man whose influence continues to inform and inspire musicians today. Structured around Clark's extended interview and intensive new research, this book recounts one of the last untold stories of jazz, unearthing the secret history of "Take Five" and many hitherto unknown aspects of Brubeck's early career-and sharing details about his creative relationship with his star saxophonist, Paul Desmond. Woven throughout are cameo appearances from a host of unlikely figures, from Sting, Ray Manzarek of The Doors, and Keith Emerson to John Cage, Leonard Bernstein, Harry Partch, and Edgard Varèse. Each chapter explores a different theme or aspect of Brubeck's life and music, illuminating the core of his artistry and genius. To quote President Obama, as he awarded the musician with a Kennedy Center Honor: "You can't understand America without understanding jazz, and you can't understand jazz without understanding Dave Brubeck."

Simply Brubeck is a collection of the most engaging compositions by jazz pianist, Dave Brubeck. Phrase markings, articulations, fingering and dynamics have been included to aid with interpretation, and a large print size makes the notation easy to read. Titles: * Audrey * Autumn in Our Town * Blue Lake Tahoe * Blue Rondo a la Turk * Blue Shadows in the Street * Bossa Nova U.S.A. * Broadway Bossa Nova * The Duke * Everybody's Jumpin' * Far More Blue * (I Still Am in Love with) A Girl Named Oli * In Your Own Sweet Way * It's a Raggy Waltz * King for a Day * Maori Blues * Mr. Fats * Newport Waltz * Softly, William, Softly * Strange Meadowlark * Summer Song * Sweet Cleo Brown * Take Five * Three to Get Ready * Unisphere * Unsquare Dance.

(Artist Transcriptions). Note-for-note keyboard transcriptions for 31 songs as performed by the famed jazz pianist who composed the songs and themes for the popular Peanuts animated cartoons. Includes: Autumn Leaves * Cast Your Fate to the Wind * Charlie Brown Theme * Christmas Time Is Here * A Day in the Life of a Fool (Manha de Carnaval) * El Matador * The Great Pumpkin Waltz * Linus and Lucy * On Green Dolphin Street * Skating * Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise * and more.

Dave Brubeck's Time Out ranks among the most popular, successful, and influential jazz albums of all time. Released by Columbia in 1959, alongside such other landmark albums as Miles Davis's Kind of Blue and Charles Mingus's Mingus Ah Um, Time Out became one of the first jazz albums to be certified platinum, while its featured track, "Take Five," became the best-selling jazz single of the twentieth century, surpassing one million copies. In addition to its commercial successes, the album is widely recognized as a pioneering endeavor into the use of odd meters in jazz. With its opening track "Blue Rondo à la Turk" written in 9/8, its hit single "Take Five" in 5/4, and equally innovative uses of the more common 3/4 and 4/4 meters on other tracks, Time Out has played an important role in the development of modern jazz. In this book, author Stephen A. Crist draws on nearly fifteen years of archival research to offer the most thorough examination to date of this seminal jazz album. Supplementing his research with interviews with key individuals, including Brubeck's widow Iola and daughter Catherine, as well as interviews conducted with Brubeck himself prior to his passing in 2012, Crist paints a complete picture of the album's origins, creation, and legacy. Couching careful analysis of each of the album's seven tracks within historical and cultural contexts, he offers fascinating insights into the composition and development of some of the album's best-known tunes. From Brubeck's 1958 State Department-sponsored tour, during which he first encountered the Turkish aksak rhythms that would form the basis of "Blue Rondo à la Turk," to the backstage jam session that planted the seeds for "Take Five," Crist sheds an exciting new light on one of the most significant albums in jazz history.

Author Stephen A. Crist draws on years of archival research and interviews with family, friends, and the man himself to offer the most thorough examination to date of Dave Brubeck's seminal jazz album.

How can we--jazz fans, musicians, writers, and historians--understand the legacy and impact of a musician like Dave Brubeck? It is undeniable that Brubeck leveraged his fame as a jazz musician and status as a composer for social justice causes, and in doing so, held to a belief system that, during the civil rights movement, modeled a progressive approach to race and race relations. It is also true that it took Brubeck, like others, some time to understand the full spectrum of racial power dynamics at play in post-WWII, early Cold War, and civil rights-era America. Dave Brubeck and the Performance of Whiteness uses Brubeck's performances of whiteness across his professional, private, and political lives as a starting point to understand the ways in which whiteness, privilege, and white supremacy more fully manifested in mid-century America. How is whiteness performed and re-performed? How do particular traits become inscribed with whiteness, and further, how do those traits, now racialized in a listener's mind, filter the sounds a listener hears? To what extent was Brubeck's whiteness made by others? How did audiences and critics use Brubeck to craft their own identities centered in whiteness? Drawing on archival records, recordings, and previously conducted interviews, Dave Brubeck and the Performance of Whiteness listens closely for the complex and shifting frames of mid-century whiteness, and how they shaped the experiences of Brubeck's critics, audiences, and Brubeck himself. Throughout, author Kelsey Klotz asks what happens when a musician tries to intervene, using his privilege as a tool with which to disrupt structures of white supremacy, even as whiteness continues to retain its hold on its beneficiaries.

Propelled by the unlikely hit “Take Five,” the pianist’s 1959 classic Time Out! was the first jazz album to earn platinum status, making it one of only eight platinum records in jazz history. Born as an experiment in time signatures and eclectic musical styles the artist encountered while traveling abroad, Time Out! moved the genre forward and became one of the most influential albums of all time. What was it about this subtle, artsy session that captured the ears of both hardcore jazz fans and casual listeners alike? Why did Brubeck, a bespectacled intellectual who seemingly wasn’t as hip as Davis and Coltrane, become a legitimate mainstream star in a genre not known for stardom? Author and bassist Alan Goldsher delves into Brubeck’s classic record, examining why the album and the pianist caught the zeitgeist, and measuring its continuing impact on music of all styles. Engaging and informative, Digging Dave Brubeck and Time Out! pays homage to one of the most vital, most enduring recordings in jazz history.