Dave Brubeck: A Life in Time

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An honor bestowed by President Obama with the words: “You can’t understand America without understanding jazz, and you can’t understand jazz without understanding Dave Brubeck.

In 1954 the pianist Dave Brubeck became the first jazz musician of the postwar generation to be featured on the cover of Time magazine, infuriating those who felt that this white middle-class Californian had no business taking the limelight from Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie or Thelonious Monk, the true pioneers of an essentially African American music. I am now listening to his solo music as well, something I never thought I would do as I have always previously underrated Brubeck.However after reading the biography especially regarding polytonality and polyrhythms both of which I was aware of, I felt the need to actually listen to the particular piece of music that he was talking about to totally understand what he was referring to. This book] is that rare beast: an uncompromisingly analytical study that absorbs and entertains, illuminating both its subject and his social context. An ideal state of improvisational grace is reached when an "effortless flow of new material" springs from the sub-conscious-"the performer at this level has neither desire nor need for a preconceived pattern because he knows that the music comes from a source of infinite imagination and limitless variety. Apparently, this tendency got him in hot water with many jazz critics over the years who believed "true" jazz only resided only in the kind of innovations in melody wrought by bebop. Also, if you have lingering doubts abouts Dave's Jazziness, listen to the fabulous gem (imho of course!

This excellent biography makes clear that he simply chose his own path and individual idea of jazz that was outside mainstream critical thinking and just as valid as anything the bebop players (most of whom actually admired him and his ideas greatly) were committed to.Brubeck came of age as one of the "greatest generation" and went on to bring his own brand of west coast cool jazz into homes across America with his breakthrough hit album, "time Out" in 1959. You think of Beethoven, or Stravinsky, he'd say, they are always leading you somewhere new, and for that to happen you need to move between keys. Another episode reaccented the 3+3 of 6/8 to become the 2+2+2 of 3/4, a neat rhythmic pun to chew on as Brubeck's harmony feasted on another, more existential ambiguity: Was the music in the major or the minor? 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.

You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.Blocks of harmony passing between the brass and the saxophones, that was how arrangers tended to think, and i loved those arrangements. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. A LIFE IN TIME includes in-depth analyses of Brubeck’s music; and I have to confess that much of the technical terminology used by the author is beyond my understanding (and possibly resulting from my lack of a formal education in theory of music).

And really I'm not much of a jazz aficionado, but I own a dozen CD versions of his now-classic 50's and 60's albums when he was fronting his eponymously-named Quartet. The late Whitney Balliett of the New Yorker mastered the difficult skill of bringing an improvisation to life in the mind’s ear, largely by avoiding the use of technical terms. Each chapter explores a different theme or aspect of Brubeck's life and music, illuminating the core of his artistry and genius. For all the resentment he provoked, and the scorn poured on his sometimes heavy-handed playing, Brubeck was an interesting musician whose experiments with unorthodox time signatures helped open the way for others to venture beyond the standard 4/4 and waltz time.Philip Clark's revealing study enables a deeper and more complete understanding of this artist and pioneer's life and work. sax, interaction with Charlie Parker; and including the early Octet, which had a strong alignment with the chromatic ideas of Milhaud etc.