R.I.P. Dave Brubeck

Last month, the world of classical music lost its elder statesman, Elliott Carter, and today, we bid farewell to legendary nonagenarian jazz musician, Dave Brubeck. The pianist/composer/bandleader died on the eve of his 92nd birthday. You'll be hearing lots of news stories about him in the coming days; here's his obituary from Downbeat magazine and another in the Chicago Tribune. I'd like to spin a more personal tale.

As a middle school saxophonist, I was just getting started in jazz and checking out various players via the record collection at the local public libraries. Dave Brubeck was one of the first musicians I got excited about. I was drawn to his compositions on the classic album Time Out, which were groundbreaking for their use of non-standard time signatures like 3/4, 5/4, and 9/8. Nowadays, nobody thinks twice about playing in these meters, but in 1959 it sounded very exotic. Even in the late 70s when I started listening, they were still pretty out there. I was especially impressed by the tune "Take Five," written by his alto saxophonist Paul Desmond. I listened to that record so much that even today you can hear his tone and phrasing in my sax playing. During my senior year at Glenbrook South, I played "Take Five" in the annual variety show, and introduced all my peers to his music.

Since then, I went on to "hipper" musicians--Brubeck always took a bit of a bum rap for not being bluesy enough or adventurous enough after his early days. (I assume there was a bit of reverse racism there, as Brubeck was a white man in the predominantly black world of jazz. People are more enlightened today.) But as the years went on and Brubeck kept playing and touring, I had to give him props for being at the forefront of the cool jazz era and for his sheer longevity. He played into his 90s, including a 2011 Father's Day concert at Ravinia when he shared the stage with his four musician sons.

So here's to one of my very first jazz heroes--thanks for the great music, Dave!