Dave Brubeck: A Life in Time

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The author is clearly a genuine fan and deeply knowledgeable of all of Brubecks music over the years and with this in mind be warned! 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-year-long career.

Brubeck received America’s top arts award, The Kennedy Center Honors in 2009 (along with Bruce Springsteen), which happened to coincide with Brubeck’s 89th birthday. 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-year-long career. Clark puts Brubeck’s music in its proper context, the stride piano and boogie-woogie influences as well as the counterpoint and polytonality (via his studies with composer Darius Milhaud, who also taught Burt Bacharach, among many others). In the decades that followed, Brubeck remained the focus of controversy, even as his quartet’s albums – with their abstract-expressionist cover art by Joan Miró, Franz Kline and Sam Francis – became almost as ubiquitous a fixture in the homes of the upwardly mobile as a hostess trolley or coffee percolator.Facebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin. Publication dates are subject to change (although this is an extremely uncommon occurrence overall). But because counterpoint was so important to the way he thought, we all latched on to that and it became important to us.

That earned him no points from the jazz purists, but their scepticism did not deter him from writing his own orchestral and choral pieces, some of them on sacred themes, later in life. However this book uses a lot of musical technical terms which takes away from the book, and makes it challenging to read at times. At Mills College: In terms of the octet, the most important thing Milhaud taught us all- and you can hear it in the records-was about counterpoint, which helped us create our own sound. While most casual fans want to know about his work with the “classic quartet” in the 1950s and 60s (and the book devotes plenty of space to it), it’s refreshing to get to learn about Brubeck’s work beyond that period.Not during my 80+ years, in more than 70 years as a serious jazz player and listener, have I read such an incisive and entertaining book about a jazz landmark such as Dave Brubeck, and his band members. Each chapter reviews a different aspect of Dave Brubeck's career and does so in a very well argued and well presented manner. Also, there is zero mention or any photos involving Brubeck's mass composition, "To Hope, A Celebration" that was written in 1999. The author's access to Brubeck, his family, and various band members, helps him build an accurate picture of the jazz scene and their part in it, and of how they helped fight to desegregate the US, one concert hall at a time. Few knew he couldn’t read music, yet he created a unique musical idiom that encapsulated much of the ’60s sound.