Pianist, composer and bandleader, Dave Brubeck is more than a jazz artist. He has written and recorded several large-scale works, including at least two ballets, a musical, an oratorio, four cantatas, a mass and works for jazz group and orchestra. Still, Brubeck possesses one of the most distinctive piano styles in jazz, combining an acute and delicate lyrical sense with the power of block chords and a dramatic musical force that comes from years of playing in any number of time signatures. Add to this his clear connection to the history of jazz piano, including stride and honky tonk, and you find an iconoclast both popular and controversial.
Born in Concord, Calif., on Dec. 6. 1920, Brubeck received early training in classical music from his mother and was performing as a pro by the time he was 13. He studied classical composition with Darius Milhaud, and in 1949 recorded his Jazz Workshop Ensemble (aka the Dave Brubeck Octet), in addition to forming the Dave Brubeck Trio with Cal Tjader and Norman Bates. In 1951, Paul Desmond joined, making it a quartet along with Ron Crotty (having replaced Bates).
Brubeck's greatest achievements began with his successful jazz-on-campus years of the '50s. This was Brubeck's "classic" quartet, a band that would last until 1967 and which recorded some of jazz's timeless classics (e.g., "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo A La Turk"). In the '70s and beyond, Brubeck has concentrated on composing and formed various bands, including ones featuring, among others, Gerry Mulligan.
Significant recordings include Jazz At Oberlin (1953, Fantasy), Jazz Goes To College (1954, Columbia), Time Out (1959, Columbia), Time Further Out (1961, Columbia) and Just You, Just Me (1994, Telarc).
In 1994, Brubeck was elected by the Readers into the Down Beat Hall of Fame.
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