Brubek Dies At 91 [View all]
Last edited Sun Dec 9, 2012, 11:17 AM - Edit history (1)
Dave Brubeck was very important to me. I started playing jazz piano when i was 10. (1966)
My dad was a west coast jazz fan. Getz, Randolph, Montgomery, Farlow, Brubeck, et al.
He had albums of the bebop and hard bop guys, but never listened to them because he didn't like them. Then i heard Monk, and all was over. I was the east coast kid, with a west coast dad.
But, by the time i was 14 and had been studying piano for 10 years and jazz for 4 i was hearing things in a different way. And Brubeck was a revelation.
So, at that point while i was east and my dad was west, we agreed completely on Brubeck. If there was a roadtrip for some reason, we could also throw a Brubeck tape (yeah, we had an 8 track recorder for car purposes) and all was good.
His mastery of block chording and his ideas (along with Desmond) of off-meter was stunning. Every knows Take 5, but Blue Rondo ala Turk was even cooler. 13/4 time. Who else did that? It didn't hurt that Paul Desmond was one of the most adventerous sax players of his time.
Just thought i'd share why Brubeck mattered to me and just wishing him well in his eternal jam night.