Brubeck, Dave (David Warren
Brubeck)
[key], 1920–2012, American pianist and composer, b. Concord, Calif.
Brubeck began studying piano at the age of four and later studied
composition with Darius Milhaud and Arnold
Schoenberg. In
1951 he organized a jazz quartet with alto saxaphonist Paul Desmond. His
quartet broadened the jazz audience, touring college campuses and
undertaking several State Department sponsored tours abroad. After ending
his original quartet in 1972, Brubeck formed a group with his three sons,
Chris, Dan, and Darius, to play more contemporary-flavored jazz. He
continued to tour through the rest of his life, sometimes with a revived
quartet with various personnel. His music, influenced by modern classical
composers, was distinguished by complex harmony and the use of meters not
typical in jazz. Among his most famous compositions are "Time Out" and "Blue
Rondo à la Turk." Brubeck was a Kennedy Center honoree (2009) as well as
being awarded many honorary doctorate of music degrees.
See biographies by F. M. Hall (1996), D. Ramsey (2013), P. Clark (2020); study by
S.A. Crist, Dave Brubeck's Time Out (2019); Dave
Brubeck: In His Own Sweet Way (2010, documentary film).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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