Scott Johnson publishes an email from Wilfred McClay noting the oddly cool critical reception Dave Brubeck received:
I thought the Los Angeles Times obituary was pretty good, and remarkably honest about the shameful and shabby way that the critics stubbornly refused to acknowledge his greatness, and never ceased to hold his popularity against him. Not only does the article touch on the racial theme, which I didn’t expect it to do, but it even touches on the fact that his long, happy, and devoted marriage and healthy family life was in some ways held against him—he didn’t live a sufficiently “colorful” life, but was a faithful husband and loving, conscientious father, never was addicted to heroin, etc. The whole thing taught me early on in life that sometimes—not always, but sometimes—the public is a better judge than the critics. The one (unsurprising) omission from the LAT’s obit is any direct account of Brubeck’s religious faith, which was deep and specifically Christian (as I recall, he was an Episcopalian and then became a Catholic), and was behind much of the music he wrote in the last three or four decades of his life. The article mentions the sacred music, but the reader is left in the dark as to why he was writing it.
McClay concludes: “I feel a little bit as if I have lost a friend. But such a legacy! And now he can rest in peace—or, as the case may be, swing in peace.”
December 6th, 2012 | 6:51 pm
I remember when Take Five was a huge hit, and I am sure I bought the album, which I believe was called Time Out. Intellectually, I know that jazz-lovers can’t be faking it, but aside from that song, I can’t think of anything along those lines I have ever liked. So I have always kind of though Dave Brubeck was to jazz what Andrea Bocelli is to opera—somebody that you would like even if you didn’t like that kind of music. (Except I do love opera and I have no problem listening to Bocelli.)
Having said that, I am totally ignorant about what jazz fans consider jazz. Artie Shaw’s famous rendition of Begin the Beguine, for example, is hair-raisingly great. If I want to hear an old standard, the version I am most likely to choose will be Ella Fitzgerald’s. But I don’t think I will ever appreciate a jazz band that goes one for 20 or 30 minutes improvising on the same song that I can barely recognize. I do acknowledge that something great can be going on that I am totally oblivious to.
The whole thing taught me early on in life that sometimes—not always, but sometimes—the public is a better judge than the critics.
Hmmmmm . . .
December 7th, 2012 | 10:01 am
Many if not most jazz lovers my age (60) will tell you that their first real introduction to jazz and the first jazz album they bought was Miles Davis’ BIRTH OF COOL. I am here to tell you that twenty-nine out of thirty of those people are liars. For a variety of reasons, jazz aficionados think having Davis as your starting point is the epitome of…well…cool. But the true is 99% of us began with Dave Brubeck and his TIME OUT album. TIME OUT was a jazz record that even jazz haters liked. Perhaps for that reason, Brubeck’s stock rode low through the years although he unfailingly delivered the goods. Popularity, even ever so brief, can be a harsh mistress.
One of the things I have discovered over the years is that there are many—far too many-musicians who really don’t like music. Music is too much with them through the day and every day that they lose sight of its simple joys. Only Brubeck and the Lord knows if he ever went through such a period; but in all the times I watched him I never saw anything less than constant reinvention, joy in his eyes and his beaming smile. Watching Brubeck play in such elation, maybe you didn’t get it and the notes made no sense, but you certainly felt it.
Farewell, good friend. You join that throng of artists of all sorts who deserved better than they got. Say “hello” to Bill for me, OK?
December 8th, 2012 | 11:52 pm
Dave Brubeck became a Catholic AFTER he completed a commission to compose a Mass late in life.
TIME OUT is a great album and into his 80s there was always that joy for music in Brubeck. By the seventies jazz had become so “serious” and political that much of that joy went out of it. Ornette Coleman whose musical joy was as exceptional as Brubeck’s was reliable did record one snappy upbeat jazz album entitled DANCING HEAD AND FEET. For Herb Alpert’s label!
Brubeck was playful — the very definition of great jazz in my humble opinion. I suspect his Catholic conversion came far more naturally than mine did. If you watch a 1960s film of his band performing Take Five he’s smiling. And they loved their music everywhere. Indian drummers loved his imaginative lyrical drummer for example.
And as for Brubeck’s “pop” concision — even John Coltrane came to believe that if you had something to say you could say it just as well in five minutes as twenty.
A tuneful genius.
Links
Blogs
Find Us
Contact