Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck dead at age 91.
Dave Brubeck, a jazz musician who attained pop-star acclaim with recordings such as "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo a la Turk," died Wednesday morning at Norwalk Hospital, in Norwalk, Conn., said his longtime manager-producer-conductor Russell Gloyd.
Brubeck was one day short of his 92nd birthday. He died of heart failure, en route to "a regular treatment with his cardiologist,” said Gloyd.
Throughout his career, Brubeck defied conventions long imposed on jazz musicians. The tricky meters he played in “Take Five” and other works transcended standard conceptions of swing rhythm.
The extended choral/symphonic works he penned and performed around the world took him well outside the accepted boundaries of jazz. And the concerts he brought to colleges across the country in the 1950s shattered the then-long-held notion that jazz had no place in academia.
As a pianist, he applied the classical influences of his teacher, the French master Darius Milhaud, to jazz, playing with an elegance of tone and phrase that supposedly were the antithesis of the American sound.
As a humanist, he was at the forefront of integration, playing black jazz clubs throughout the deep South in the ’50s, a point of pride for him.
"For as long as I’ve been playing jazz, people have been trying to pigeonhole me,” he once told the Tribune.
"Frankly, labels bore me."
He is survived by his wife, Iola; four sons and a daughter; grandsons and a great granddaughter. (by Chicago Tribune)
And this solo-album from 2000 is the perfect soundtrack for this sad news.
And this solo-album from 2000 is the perfect soundtrack for this sad news.
Dave Brubeck rarely recorded as a solo pianist, but beginning in the late '90s, he started performing occasional solo pieces in concert and recorded two first-rate solo dates for Telarc. His third solo CD for the label is full of rich harmonies that any Brubeck fan can identify as his in seconds, including a mix of memorable but overlooked songs from the 1920s through the 1940s, plus a few choice standards and a pair of his timeless originals. Brubeck clearly loves old ballads like "That Old Feeling" and "I'll Never Smile Again," and there are several classics that are perfect vehicles for Brubeck. "Someone to Watch Over Me" is yet another lush ballad, while his unusual chord substitutions to the very familiar "Over the Rainbow" are dazzling. He ventures into Duke Ellington's repertoire, obviously having fun with the jaunty "Just Squeeze Me" but at a slower tempo than one would expect; his percussive swinging take of "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" is just as fun but wilder. Brubeck only features two of his own works, but they are among his best. "Weep No More" is the obscure song, appearing first as a part of his 1956 solo piano LP for Columbia, Brubeck Plays Brubeck; this poignant melody deserves to be better known than it is. "Summer Song," written as a vocal feature for Louis Armstrong in Dave & Iola Brubeck's short-lived production The Real Ambassadors, has gradually become a jazz standard. This highly recommended CD is yet another of his finest hours. (by Ken Dryden)
Dave Brubeck, 2009
Personnel:
Dave Brubeck (piano)
Tracklist:
01. That Old Feeling (Brown/Fain) 6.51
02. I'll Never Smile Again (Lowe) 4.23
03. One Alone (Harbach/Hammerstein II/Romberg) 6.39
04. You've Got Me Crying Again (Jones/Newman) 3.59
05. Someone To Watch Over Me (Gershwin) 4.22
06. Just Squeeze Me (But Don't Tease Me) (Ellington/Gaines) 4.35
07. Harbor Lights (Grosz) 4.08
08. Things Ain't What They Used To Be (D.Ellington/M.Ellington/Persons) 4.21
09. Summer Song (Brubeck) 5.20
10. Red Sails In The Sunset (Williams) 3.58
11. Weep No More (Brubeck) 4.23
12. Bye Bye Blues (Bennett/Gray/Hamm/Lown) 5.36
13. Over the Rainbow (Arlen/Harburg) 3.53
ARMU 2225
ARMU 2225 (zippyshare)