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LP

80px
At top, format logo used on early issues. Below, a typical LP, showing its central spindle hole and label surrounded by the grooved area. Five separate "tracks" are visible, but all are parts of one continuous spiral groove
Media type	Audio playback
Encoding	Analog groove modulation
Capacity	Originally 22 minutes per side, later increased by several minutes, much longer possible with very low audio levels
Read mechanism	Microgroove stylus (maximum tip radius 0.001 inches)
Dimensions	12 in (30 cm); 10 in (25 cm)
Weight	90–200 grams
Usage	Audio storage
Extended from	1948
Extended to	present

The LP (Long Play), or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph (gramophone) records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry. Apart from relatively minor refinements and the important later addition of stereophonic sound capability, it has remained the standard format for vinyl "albums" up to the present.

At the time the LP was introduced, nearly all phonograph records for home use were made of an abrasive (and therefore noisy) shellac compound, employed a much larger groove, and played at approximately 78 rpm, limiting the playing time of a 12-inch record to less than five minutes per side. The new product was a 12 or 10-inch fine-grooved disc made of vinyl and played with a smaller-tipped "microgroove" stylus at a speed of 33⅓ rpm. Each side of a 12-inch LP could play for more than 20 minutes. Only the microgroove standard was truly new, as both vinyl and the 33⅓ rpm speed had been used for special purposes for many years, as well as in one unsuccessful earlier attempt to introduce a long-playing record for home use. Although the LP was especially suited to classical music because of its extended continuous playing time, it also allowed a collection of ten or more typical "pop" music recordings to be put on a single disc. Previously, such collections, as well as longer classical music broken up into several parts, had been sold as sets of 78 rpm records in a specially imprinted "record album" consisting of individual record sleeves bound together in book form. The use of the word "album" persisted for the one-disc LP equivalent.

The LP was soon confronted by the "45", a 7-inch fine-grooved vinyl record playing at 45 rpm, introduced by RCA Victor in 1949. Originally expected to compete with the LP, boxed "albums" of 45s were issued, as well as "EP" (Extended Play) 45s, which squeezed two or even three selections onto each side, but the 45 succeeded only in directly replacing the "78" as the format for issuing "singles" of individual popular songs. Reel-to-reel magnetic tape recorders posed a new challenge to the LP in the 1950s, but the higher cost of prerecorded tapes was one of several factors that confined tape to a niche market. Despite the later introduction of cartridge and cassette tapes, which were more convenient and less expensive than reel-to-reel tapes and became popular for use in automobiles beginning in the mid-1960s, the LP was not seriously challenged as the primary medium for listening to recorded music at home until the 1970s, when the audio quality of cassette tapes was greatly improved by better tape formulations and noise reduction systems. Only the 1983 advent of the digital Compact Disc (CD), which offered a recording that was truly noiseless and not audibly degraded by repeated playing or careless handling, succeeded in toppling the LP from its throne, but only after the initially high prices of CDs and CD players had come down.

Along with phonograph records in general, some of which were made of other materials, LPs are now widely referred to simply as "vinyl". In the 21st century, a renewed interest in vinyl has occurred and the demand for the medium has been on a steady increase yearly in niche markets, though most modern listeners still prefer compact discs or file formats.^[1]

History and physical aspects[link]

Soundtrack discs[link]

The prototype of the LP was the soundtrack disc used by the Vitaphone motion picture sound system, developed by Western Electric and introduced in 1926. The maximum playing time of each side of a conventional 12-inch (30 cm) 78 rpm disc, slightly less than five minutes, was not acceptable. The disc had to play continuously for at least 11 minutes, long enough to accompany a full 1000-foot reel of 35 mm film projected at 24 frames per second. The disc diameter was increased to 16 inches (40 cm) and the speed was reduced to 33⅓ revolutions per minute. Unlike their smaller LP descendants, they were made with the same large "standard groove" used by 78s. The groove started at the inside of the recorded area and proceeded outward. Like 78s, early soundtrack discs were pressed in an abrasive shellac compound. They were played with a single-use steel needle held in a massive electromagnetic pickup with a tracking weight of five ounces. By the very early 1930s, all motion picture studios were recording on optical soundtracks, but sets of soundtrack discs, mastered by dubbing from the optical tracks, were made as late as 1936 for distribution to theaters still equipped with disc-only sound projectors.^[2]

Radio transcription discs[link]

Syndicated radio programming was distributed on 78 rpm discs beginning in 1928, but the desirability of a longer continuous playing time soon led to the adoption of the Vitaphone soundtrack disc format for this purpose. 16-inch 33⅓ rpm discs playing about 15 minutes per side were used for most of these "electrical transcriptions" beginning in about 1930. Transcriptions were variously recorded inside out like soundtrack discs or with an outside start. Some were recorded with a vertically modulated "hill and dale" groove, as this was found to allow a wider dynamic range and an extension of the high-end frequency response, not necessarily a great advantage in practice due to the limitations of AM broadcasting. Initially, transcription discs were pressed only in shellac, but by 1932 pressings in RCA Victor's vinyl-based "Victrolac" were appearing. Other plastics were sometimes used. By the late 1930s vinyl was standard for nearly all kinds of pressed discs except ordinary commercial 78s, which continued to be made of shellac. In addition to pressed discs, beginning in the mid-1930s one-off 16-inch 33⅓ rpm lacquer discs were used by radio networks, mainly to archive recordings of their programming, which was all broadcast live, and by local stations to delay the broadcast of network programming or to prerecord some of their own productions. In the late 1940s, magnetic tape recorders were adopted by the networks to prerecord shows or repeat them for airing in different time zones, but 16-inch vinyl pressings continued to be used into the early 1960s for non-network distribution of prerecorded programming. The LP's microgroove standard started to be incorporated in the late 1950s, and in the 1960s the discs were reduced to 12 inches, becoming physically indistinguishable from ordinary LPs. Unless the quantity required was very small, pressed discs were a more economical medium for distributing high-quality audio than tape, so the use of LP-format transcription discs continued into the 1980s. The King Biscuit Flower Hour is a late example.^[3]

RCA Victor[link]

RCA Victor introduced an early version of a long-playing record for home use in September 1931. These "Program Transcription" discs, as Victor called them, played at 33⅓ rpm and used a somewhat finer and more closely spaced groove than typical 78s. They were to be played with a special "Chromium Orange" chrome-plated steel needle. The 10-inch discs, mostly used for popular and light classical music, were normally pressed in shellac, but the 12-inch discs, mostly used for "serious" classical music, were normally pressed in Victor's new vinyl-based Victrolac compound, which provided a much quieter playing surface. They could hold up to 15 minutes per side. Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, performed by the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski, was the first 12-inch recording issued. The New York Times wrote, "What we were not prepared for was the quality of reproduction....incomparably fuller."^[4][5][6] Unfortunately for Victor, it was downhill from there. Many of the subsequent issues were not new recordings but simply dubs made from existing 78 rpm record sets. The dubs were audibly inferior to the original 78s. Two-speed turntables with the 33⅓ rpm speed were included only on expensive high-end machines, which sold in small numbers, and people were not buying many records of any kind at the time. Overall record sales in the U.S. had crashed from a high of $105.6 million in 1921 to $5.5 million in 1933, due to competition from radio and the effects of the Great Depression.^[7] Few if any new Program Transcriptions were recorded after 1933 and two-speed turntables soon disappeared from consumer products. Except for a few recordings of background music for funeral parlors, the last of the issued titles had been purged from the company's record catalog by the end of the decade. The failure of the new product left RCA Victor with a low opinion of the prospects for any sort of long-playing record, influencing product development decisions during the coming decade.

Columbia[link]

CBS Laboratories head research scientist Peter Goldmark led Columbia's team to develop a phonograph record that would hold at least 20 minutes per side.^[8] Research began in 1941, was suspended during World War II, and then resumed in 1945.^[9] Columbia Records unveiled the LP at a press conference in the Waldorf Astoria on June 19, 1948 in two formats: 10 in (25 cm) in diameter, matching that of 78 rpm singles, and 12 in (30 cm) in diameter.^[10] Although they released 100 simultaneously to allow for a purchasing catalogue, the first catalogue number for a ten-inch LP, CL 6001, was a reissue of the Frank Sinatra 78 rpm album set The Voice of Frank Sinatra; the first catalogue number for a twelve-inch LP, ML 4001, was the Mendelssohn Concerto in E Minor for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 64, played by Nathan Milstein with the Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York conducted by Bruno Walter. These two albums are therefore the first long-players.

Owing to marketing attitudes at the time, the 12-inch format was reserved solely for higher-priced classical recordings and Broadway shows; popular music appeared only on 10-inch records. Executives believed classical music aficionados would leap at the chance to finally hear a Beethoven symphony or a Mozart concerto without having to flip a seemingly endless series of four-minute-per-side 78s, but popular music fans, used to consuming one song per side at a time, would find the shorter time of the ten-inch LP sufficient. This belief would prove to be mistaken in the end, and by the mid-1950s the 10 inch LP, like its similarly sized 78 rpm record, would lose out in the format wars and be discontinued. Ten-inch records would reappear as mini-albums in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United States and Australia as a marketing alternative.

When initially introduced, 12-inch LPs played for a maximum of 45 minutes, divided over two sides. However, in 1952, Columbia Records began to bring out extended-play LPs that played for as long as 52 minutes, or 26 minutes per side.  These were used mainly for the original cast albums of some Broadway musicals, such as Kiss Me, Kate and My Fair Lady, or in order to fit an entire play, such as the 1950 production of Don Juan in Hell, onto just two LPs. The 52+ minute playing time remained rare, however, because of mastering limitations, and most LPs continued to be issued with a 30- to 45-minute playing time throughout the lifetime of their production. However, some albums would eventually exceed even the 52-minute limitation, with single albums going to as long as ninety minutes in the case of Arthur Fiedler's 1976 LP 90 Minutes with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, made by Radio Shack.^[11] However, such records had to be cut with much narrower spacing between the grooves, which allowed for a much smaller amount of dynamic range on the records, and meant that playing the record with a worn needle could damage the record. It also resulted in a much quieter sound. (Other notably long albums included the UK version of The Rolling Stones' Aftermath, with both sides exceeding 26 minutes in length; Genesis' Duke, with both sides exceeding 27 minutes; Bob Dylan's 1976 album Desire, with side two being just shy of thirty minutes; Brian Eno's 1975 album Discreet Music, whose A-side exceeded 30 minutes; Miles Davis' 1972 album Get Up with It, totalling 124:15 over four sides; Todd Rundgren's 1975 album Initiation, totaling 67:32 over two sides, as well as his band Utopia's 1974 self-titled debut, totaling 59:17 over two sides, and his 1973 album A Wizard, A True Star, whose second side nearly reaches thirty minutes; and La Monte Young's Dream House 78' 17", whose two sides were each just under 40 minutes (the running time of the album is indeed 78:17)). Spoken word and comedy albums, not having a wide range of musical instrumentation to reproduce, can be cut with much narrower spacing between the grooves; for example, The Comic Strip, released by Springtime Records in 1981, has a side A lasting 38:04 and a side B lasting 31:08, for a total of 69:12.

In any case, the standard 45-minute playing time of the LP was a significant improvement over that of the previous dominant format, the 78 rpm single, which was generally limited to three to four minutes. At around 14 minutes per side for 10-inch and 23 minutes per side for 12-inch, LPs provided a measured time to enjoy a recording before having to flip discs.

Some record turntables, called record changers, could play a stack of records piled on a specially designed spindle and arm arrangement. Because of this, many multiple-record sets were released in what's called "automatic sequence." A two-record set would have Side 1 and Side 4 on one record, and Side 2 and Side 3 on the other, so the first two sides could play in a changer without the listener's intervention, and then they could simply flip the stack over. Larger boxed sets used appropriate automatic sequencing (1+8, 2+7, 3+6, 4+5 for example) to allow for ease of continuous playback, but difficulties if searching for an individual track.

In contrast to compact disc players, very few record players, e.g., laser or selected linear tracking turntables like Sharp RP-107/117,^[12] could provide a per-track programmable interface, so the record albums play in the same order every time. As the LP achieved market dominance, musicians and producers began to pay special attention to the flow from song-to-song, to keep a consistent mood or feel, or to provide thematic continuity, as in concept albums.

Vinyl records are much more vulnerable to being scratched than CDs. On a record, a scratch can cause popping sounds with each revolution when the needle meets the scratch mark. Deeper scratches can cause the needle to jump out of the groove altogether. If the needle jumps ahead to a groove further inward, information gets skipped. And if it jumps outward to the groove it just finished playing, it can repeat in an infinite loop, serving as the simile for things that continuously repeat ("like a broken record"). Additionally, records used in radio stations can suffer cue burn, which is a result of putting the needle on the record and then backing it up approximately a quarter turn so that it will play at the proper speed when the DJ starts the song. When this is done repeatedly, a hissing sound will preface the start of the actual song.

The large surface area of the record, being vinyl and therefore susceptible to becoming statically charged, pulls dust and smoke suspended particles out of the air, also causing crackles, pops and (in the worst cases of contamination) distortion during playback. Records may be cleaned before playing, using record cleaner and/or antistatic record cleaning fluid and anti-static pads.^[13]

Since LP discs are delicate, as well as heavy for their size, people are less inclined to lug a stack of them around – for example, when visiting friends or when traveling – than a similar quantity of music compiled onto 90-minute cassettes, compilation-tapes or today's digital formats.

The average LP has about 1,500 feet (460 m) of groove on each side, or about a third of a mile. The tangential needle speed relative to the disc surface is approximately one mile per hour, on average. It travels fastest on the outside edge, unlike audio CDs, which change their speed of rotation to provide constant linear velocity (CLV). (By contrast, CDs play from the inner radius outward, the reverse of phonograph records.) This allows the lock groove effect used by The Beatles on Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, on which the last track, "A Day in the Life", runs into a continuous loop that will repeat as long as the record player is on.

	LP pre echo noicon The empty space before the start of the music has been amplified +15dB to reveal the pre-echo.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Thin, closely spaced spiral grooves that allowed for increased playing time on a 33⅓ rpm microgroove LP led to a tinny pre-echo warning of upcoming loud sounds. The cutting stylus unavoidably transferred some of the subsequent groove wall's impulse signal into the previous groove wall. It was discernible by some listeners throughout certain recordings but a quiet passage followed by a loud sound would allow anyone to hear a faint pre-echo of the loud sound occurring 1.8 seconds ahead of time.^[14] This problem could also appear as "post"-echo, with a tinny ghost of the sound arriving 1.8 seconds after its main impulse.

The RIAA equalization curve (used since 1954) de-emphasizes the bass notes during recording, allowing closer spacing of record grooves and hence more playing time. On playback, the turntable cartridge pre-amplifier reverses the RIAA curve to flatten out the frequencies again.

Disc jockeys (or DJs) in clubs still rely heavily on vinyl records, as cuing tracks from cassette tapes is too slow, and the quality insufficient, and CDs did not allow creative playback options until quite recently. The term "DJ," which had always meant a person who played various pieces of music on the radio (originally 78s, then 45s, now cuts from CDs or tracks on a computer) – a play on the horse-racing term "jockey" – has also come to encompass all kinds of skills in "scratching" (record playback manipulation) and mixing dance music, rapping over the music or even playing musical instruments, but the original dance club (non-radio) definition was simply somebody who played records (LP tracks or 12" singles) in a club, alternating between two turntables. The skill came in subtly matching beats or instruments from one song to the next, providing a consistent dance tempo. DJs also made occasional announcements and chatted with patrons to take requests while songs were actually playing, similar to what radio disc jockeys have been doing since the 1940s.

Public reception[link]

When the LP was introduced in 1948, the 78 was the conventional format for phonograph records. By 1952, 78s accounted for slightly more than half of the units sold in the United States, and just under half of the dollar sales. The 45, oriented toward the single song, accounted for 30.2% of unit sales and 26.5% of dollar sales. The LP represented 16.7% of unit sales and 26.2% of dollar sales.^[15]

Ten years after their introduction, the share of unit sales for LPs in the U.S. was 24.4%, and of dollar sales 58%. Most of the remainder was taken up by the 45; 78s accounted for only 2.1% of unit sales and 1.2% of dollar sales.^[7]

Fidelity and formats[link]

The audio quality of LPs increased greatly over time.^{[citation needed]} Some significant advances in LP landmarks are:

• Stereo sound, 1958
• Helium-cooled cutting heads that could withstand higher levels of high frequencies (Neumann SX68) – previously, the cutting engineer had to reduce the HF content of the signal sent to the record cutting head, otherwise the delicate coils could burn out
• Elliptical Stylus (marketed by several manufacturers at the end of the 60s)
• Cartridges that operate at lower tracking forces of circa 2 grams, beginning from mid-60s
• Half speed and 1/3 speed record cutting, which extend the usable bandwidth of the record.
• Matrixed quadraphonic records (SQ, QS, EV-4, UHJ)
• "Discrete" quadraphonic CD4 records, which enabled frequencies of up to 50 kHz to be recorded and played back.
• Longer-lasting, antistatic record compounds (ex: RCA Dynaflex, Q-540)
• Better stylus tip shapes (Shibata, Van den Hul, MicroLine, etc.)
• Direct Metal Mastering
• Noise-reduction (CX encoding, DBX encoding), starting from 1973.

Early LP recordings were monaural, but stereo LP records became commercially available in 1958. In the 1970s, quadraphonic sound (four-channel) records became available. These did not achieve the popularity of stereo records, partly because of scarcity of consumer playback equipment, competing and incompatible quad record standards (each of which were compatible with two-channel stereo equipment) and partly because of the lack of quality in quad-remix releases. Quad never escaped the reputation of being a "gimmick". Three-way and quadraphonic recordings, which were favored and championed by artists like Leopold Stokowski and Glenn Gould,^[16] are now making a modest comeback, with older masters being turned into multi-channel Super Audio CDs. (However, a fair number of new surround recordings -- primarily classical -- are being made for SACD and Blu-ray Audio.)

Although most LPs play at 33⅓ rpm, some "super fidelity" discs were designed to play at 45 rpm. There were also, early in the evolution of the LP, some records (primarily spoken word) designed to play at 16⅔ rpm, and from the 1950s to the 1970s a lot of record players had 3 or 4 speeds: 16⅔, 33⅓, 45, and 78 rpm.

The composition of vinyl used to press records has varied considerably over the years. Virgin vinyl is preferred, but during the 1970s energy crisis, it became commonplace to use recycled vinyl – melted unsold records with all of the impurities. Sound quality suffered, with increased ticks, pops and other surface noises.^{[citation needed]} Other experiments included reducing the thickness of LPs, leading to warping and increased susceptibility to damage. Using a bead of 130 grams of vinyl had been the standard, but some labels experimented with as little as 90 grams per LP.^{[citation needed]} Today, high fidelity pressings follow the Japanese standard of 160, 180 or 200 grams.^{[citation needed]}

Besides the standard black vinyl, specialty records are also pressed on different colors of PVC or special "picture discs" with a card picture sandwiched between two clear sides. Records in different novelty shapes are also produced.

See also[link]

• Record Store Day

References[link]

External links[link]

• Dreams of Vinyl: The Story of the LP record by Jac Holzman

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Early record albums were packages of 78 RPM records in book form

An album may be understood as a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution, however the concept is found in printed music dating into the early nineteenth century in works by composers such as Schumann and Mendelssohn.^[1] The word derives from the Latin word for list.^[2]

Today, with the vinyl record no longer being used as the primary form of distribution, the term "album" can still be applied to any sound recording collection, such as those on compact disc, MiniDisc, Compact audio cassette, and digital or MP3 albums.^[3] Cover art is also considered an integral part of the album. Many albums also come with liner notes and inserts giving background information or analysis of the recording, reprinted lyrics, images of the performers, or additional artwork and text.^[4] These are now often found in the form of CD booklets.^[5]

History and Formats[link]

Vinyl records[link]

Two vinyl records with inner and outer album sleeves

Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album. If a pop or rock album contained tracks released separately as commercial singles, these were often traditionally placed in particular positions on the album.^[3] A common configuration was to have the album led off by the second and third singles, followed by a ballad. The first single would lead off side 2. In the past many singles (such as the Beatles' "Hey Jude" and Bob Dylan's "Positively 4th Street") did not appear on albums, but others (such as the Beatles' "Come Together" and Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone") were part of an album released concurrently. Today, many commercial albums of music tracks feature one or more singles, which are released separately to radio, TV or the Internet as a way of promoting the album. ^[6]Albums have also been issued that are compilations of older tracks not originally released together, such as singles not originally found on albums, b-sides of singles, or unfinished "demo" recordings.^[3]

Album sets of the past were arranged "in sequence" for phonographs equipped with record changers. In the case of a two-record set, for example, sides 1 and 4 would be printed on one record, and sides 2 and 3 on the other. The consumer would then stack the two records onto a spindle equipped with an automatic record changer by stacking the record with side 1 on the bottom and the record with side 2 directly on top of it. The record containing side 1 would then automatically drop onto the turntable, and the tone arm containing the stylus needle would automatically play the album's side 1. When that side was finished, the tone arm would swing back to allow the record containing side 2 to drop down on top of the record containing side 1 and automatically begin to play. When that was done, the consumer would pick up the stack of records that have already played, flip them over (as a stack, without rearranging), and put them back on the spindle. Sides 3 and 4 would play in sequence without further intervention from the consumer.^[3]Record changers persisted throughout the LP era, but were discontinued after it was discovered that the stacking up of records had the potential to warp them.^[3]

Compact cassette[link]

A blank compact cassette tape and case

The Compact Cassette was a popular medium for distributing pre-recorded music in the late 1970's through to the 1990's. The very first "Compact Cassette" was introduced by Philips in August of 1963 in the form of a prototype.^[7] Compact cassettes became especially popular during the 1980's after the advent of the Sony Walkman, which allowed the person to personally control what they listen to.^[8][7] The Walkman was convenient because of its size, the device could fit in most pockets and often came equipped with a clip for belts or pants.^[7] The compact cassette used doubled-sided magnetic tape to distribute music for commercial sale.^[7][9] The music is recorded on both the "A" and "B" side of the tape, with cassette being "turned" to play the other side of the album.^[7]

Compact disc[link]

A compact disc within an open 'Jewel Case'

The Compact Disc's format effectively replaced both the vinyl record and the cassette, to become the standard for the commercial mass-market distribution of music albums.^[10] The CD is a digital data storage device which permits digital recording technology to be used to record and play-back the recorded music.^[9][10]

Length[link]

According to the rules of the UK Charts, a recording counts as an "album" if either it has more than four tracks or lasts more than 25 minutes.^[11] Sometimes shorter albums are referred to as "mini-albums" or EPs.^[12] Albums such as Tubular Bells, Amarok, Hergest Ridge by Mike Oldfield, and Yes's Close to the Edge, include fewer than four tracks. Other artists such as Pinhead Gunpowder refer to their own releases under 30 minutes to bake as "albums" despite the normal distinction.

If an album becomes too long to fit a single vinyl record or CD, a recording artist may make the decision to release a double album where two vinyl LPs or compact discs are packaged together in a single case, or a triple album containing three LPs or compact discs.

Recording artists who have an extensive back catalog will often re-release several CDs in one single box with a unified design, often containing one or more albums, or a compilation of previously unreleased recordings. These are known as box sets. Some musical artists have also released more than three compact discs or LP records of new recordings at once, in the form of boxed sets, although in that case the work is still usually considered to be an album.

See also[link]

Look up album in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Music albums

• Album cover
• Concept album
• Compact Disc
• Extended play
• Liner notes
• List of albums
• Long play
• Release (music)
• Single (music)

References[link]

Lalo Schifrin
In concert with the Big Band of the Kölner Musikhochschule, 2006
Background information
Birth name	Boris Claudio Schifrin
Born	(1932-06-21) June 21, 1932 (age 80)
Origin	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Genres	Bossa nova, jazz, bebop, rock
Occupations	Pianist, composer, conductor
Instruments	Piano
Years active	1950 – present
Labels	Tico, Roulette, Audio Fidelity, MGM, Verve, Colpix, Colgems, Dot, Warner Bros., Paramount, EntrActe, CTI, Tabu, Palo Alto, Atlantic, Aleph

Lalo Schifrin (born June 21, 1932)^[1] is an Argentine composer, pianist and conductor. He is best known for his film and TV scores, such as the "Theme from Mission: Impossible". He has received four Grammy Awards and six Oscar nominations. Schifrin, associated with the jazz music genre, is also noted for work with Clint Eastwood in the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, particularly the Dirty Harry films.

Biography[link]

Schifrin was born Boris Claudio Schifrin in Buenos Aires to Jewish parents.^[2] His father, Luis Schifrin, led the second violin section of the orchestra at the Teatro Colón for three decades.^[1] At the age of six, Schifrin began a six-year course of study on piano with Enrique Barenboim, the father of the pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim. At age 16, Schifrin began studying piano with the Greek-Russian expatriate Andreas Karalis, former head of the Kiev Conservatory, and harmony with Argentine composer Juan Carlos Paz. During this time, Schifrin also became interested in jazz.

Although Schifrin studied sociology and law at the University of Buenos Aires, it was music that captured his attention.^[1] At age 20, he successfully applied for a scholarship to the Paris Conservatoire. While there, he attended Olivier Messiaen's classes and formally studied with Charles Koechlin, a disciple of Maurice Ravel. At night he played jazz in the Paris clubs. In 1955, Schifrin played piano with Ástor Piazzolla and represented his country at the International Jazz Festival in Paris.

After returning home to Argentina, Schifrin formed a jazz orchestra, a 16-piece band that became part of a popular weekly variety show on Buenos Aires TV. Schifrin also began accepting other film, television and radio assignments. In 1956, Schifrin met Dizzy Gillespie and offered to write an extended work for Gillespie's big band. Schifrin completed the work, Gillespiana, in 1958^[1] (it was recorded in 1960). Later that year Schifrin began working as an arranger for Xavier Cugat's popular dance orchestra.

While in New York in 1960, Schifrin again met Gillespie, who had by this time disbanded his big band for financial reasons. Gillespie invited Schifrin to fill the vacant piano chair in his quintet. Schifrin immediately accepted and moved to New York City. Schifrin wrote a second extended composition for Gillespie, The New Continent, which was recorded in 1962. In 1963, MGM, which had Schifrin under contract, offered the composer his first Hollywood film assignment with the African adventure, Rhino!.^[1] Schifrin moved to Hollywood late that year. He also radically re-arranged the theme for the popular NBC-TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., altering original composer Jerry Goldsmith's theme to a jazzy melody emphasizing flutes and exotic percussion, which wound up winning the Emmy award for Best TV Theme in 1965.

One of Schifrin's most recognizable and enduring compositions is the theme music for the long-running TV series Mission: Impossible. It is a distinctive tune written in the uncommon 5/4 time signature.

Schifrin's "Tar Sequence" from his Cool Hand Luke score (also written in 5/4) was the longtime theme for the Eyewitness News broadcasts on New York station WABC-TV and other ABC affiliates, as well as National Nine News in Australia. CBS Television used part of the theme of his St. Ives soundtrack for its golf broadcasts in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Schifrin's score for Coogan's Bluff in 1968 was the beginning of a long association with Clint Eastwood and director Don Siegel. Schifrin's strong jazz blues riffs were evident in Dirty Harry and, although similar to Bullitt and Coogan's Bluff, the score for Dirty Harry stood out for the sheer fear it generated when released.^{[citation needed]}

Schifrin's working score for 1973's The Exorcist was rejected by the film's director, William Friedkin. Schifrin had written six minutes of difficult and heavy music for the initial film trailer, but audiences were reportedly frightened by the combination of sights and sounds. Warner Bros. executives told Friedkin to instruct Schifrin to tone it down with softer music, but Friedkin did not relay the message. Schifrin's final score was thrown out into the parking lot. Schifrin reported in an interview that working with Friedkin was one of the most unpleasant experiences in his life.^[3]

In the 1998 film Tango, Schifrin returned to the tango music he had grown familiar with while working as Ástor Piazzolla's pianist in the mid-1950s. He brought traditional tango songs to the film as well as introducing compositions of his own in which tango is fused with jazz elements.^[4]

In 1997, the composer founded Aleph Records.^[5]

He also wrote the main theme for Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow.

Schifrin made a cameo appearance in Red Dragon (2002) as an orchestra conductor.

He is also widely sampled in hip-hop and trip-hop songs, such as Heltah Skeltah's "Prowl" or Portishead's "Sour Times". Both songs sample Schifrin's "Danube Incident", one of many themes he composed for specific episodes of the Mission: Impossible TV series.

On April 23, 2007, Lalo Schifrin presented a concert of film music for the Festival du Film Jules Verne Aventures (aka Festival Jules Verne), at Le Grand Rex theatre in Paris, France – Europe's biggest movie theater – that was caught superbly by Festival leaders for a 73 and a half minute CD named "Lalo Schifrin: Le Concert à Paris."

In 2010, a fictionalised account of Lalo Schifrin's creation of the Mission: Impossible tune was featured in a Lipton TV commercial aired in a number of countries around the world.^[6]

Alternative hip hop group Blue Scholars recorded at track entitled "Lalo Schifrin" on their third album Cinemetropolis (2011).

Awards[link]

To date, Lalo Schifrin has won four Grammy Awards (with twenty-one nominations), one Cable ACE Award, and received six Oscar nominations, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• 1957: Spectrum (Epic)
• 1959: Piano Español (Tico) reissued as Lalolé: The Latin Sound of Lalo Schifrin (Roulette)
• 1962: Lalo = Brilliance (Roulette)
• 1962: Bossa Nova: New Brazilian Jazz (Audio Fidelity)
• 1962: Piano, Strings and Bossa Nova (MGM)
• 1963: Samba Para Dos with Bob Brookmeyer (Verve)
• 1963: Between Broadway & Hollywood (MGM)
• 1964: Explorations with Louis Bellson (Roulette)
• 1964: New Fantasy (Verve)
• 1965: Once a Thief and Other Themes (Verve)
• 1966: The Dissection and Reconstruction of Music From the Past as Performed By the Inmates of Lalo Schifrin's Demented Ensemble as a Tribute to the Memory of the Marquis De Sade (Verve)
• 1968: There's a Whole Lalo Schifrin Goin' On (Dot)
• 1971: Rock Requiem (Verve)
• 1976: Black Widow (CTI)
• 1977: Towering Toccata (CTI)
• 1978: Gypsies (Tabu)
• 1979: No One Home (Tabu)
• 1982: Ins and Outs (Palo Alto)
• 1992: Jazz Meets the Symphony (Atlantic)
• 1993: More Jazz Meets the Symphony (Atlantic)
• 1995: Firebird: Jazz Meets the Symphony No. 3 (Four Winds)
• 1996: Gillespiana (Aleph)
• 1998: Jazz Mass in Concert (Aleph)
• 1998: Metamorphosis: Jazz Meets the Symphony #4 (Aleph)
• 1999: Mannix (Aleph)
• 1999: Latin Jazz Suite (Aleph)
• 1999: Jazz Goes to Holywood (Aleph)
• 1999: The Fox (Aleph)
• 2000: Esperanto (Aleph)
• 2000: Bullitt (Aleph)
• 2000: Intersections: Jazz Meets the Symphony #5 (Aleph)

Soundtrack albums[link]

• 1964: Gone with the Wave (soundtrack) (Colpix)
• 1965: The Liquidator (soundtrack) (MGM)
• 1965: The Cincinnati Kid (soundtrack) (MGM)
• 1966: Murderer's Row (soundtrack) (Colgems)
• 1967: Cool Hand Luke (soundtrack) (Dot)
• 1967: Sol Madrid (soundtrack) (MGM)
• 1967: Music from Mission: Impossible (Dot)
• 1968: The Fox (soundtrack) (Warner Bros.)
• 1968: More Mission: Impossible (Paramount)
• 1968: Mannix (Paramount)
• 1968: Bullitt (soundtrack) (Warner Bros.)
• 1969: Che! (soundtrack) (Tetragrammaton)
• 1970: Kelly's Heroes (soundtrack) (MGM)
• 1973: Enter the Dragon (soundtrack) (Warner Bros.)
• 1977: Voyage of the Damned (soundtrack) (Entr'Acte)
• 1977: Rollercoaster (soundtrack) (MCA)

Albums featured[link]

With Cannonball Adderley

• The Cannonball Adderley Quintet & Orchestra (Capitol, 1970) - composer, conductor and arranger

With Maurice André

• Trompettissimo (Erato, 1994) - arranger and conductor

With Count Basie

• Back with Basie (Roulette, 1962)

With Louis Bellson

• Thunderbird (Impulse!, 1965) - arranger

With Luiz Bonfá

• Luiz Bonfa Plays and Sings Bossa Nova (Verve, 1963) - arranger

With Candido Camero

• Conga Soul (Roulette, 1962) - piano, composer, arranger

With José Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti

• The Three Tenors in Concert (London, 1990) - arranger
• The Three Tenors in Concert 1994 (Atlantic, 1994) - arranger
• The 3 Tenors - Paris 1998 (Atlantic, 1998) - arranger

With Dizzy Gillespie

• Gillespiana (Verve, 1960) - composer, piano and arranger
• An Electrifying Evening with the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet (Verve, 1961) - piano
• Carnegie Hall Concert (Verve, 1961) - piano
• A Musical Safari (1961) - piano
• Dizzy on the French Riviera (Philips, 1962) - piano, composer and arranger
• New Wave (Philips, 1962) - piano, arranger
• The New Continent (Limelight, 1962) - piano, composer and arranger
• Something Old, Something New (Philips, 1963) - arranger
• Dizzy Gillespie and the Double Six of Paris (Philips, 1963) - arranger
• Free Ride (Pablo, 1977) - keyboards, composer, arranger and conductor

With Eddie Harris

• Bossa Nova (Vee-Jay, 1962) - piano, composer, arranger

With Al Hirt

• Latin in the Horn (RCA Victor, 1966) - conductor and arranger

With Jimmy Smith

• The Cat (Verve Records, 1964) - conductor and arranger
• The Cat Strikes Again (LaserLight Records, 1980)

With Sarah Vaughan

• Sweet 'n' Sassy (1963 Roulette Records)

With Cal Tjader

• Several Shades of Jade (Verve Records, 1963)

With Paul Horn

• Jazz Suite on the Mass Texts (RCA Records, 1965)

Films scores[link]

• 1964: Rhino!
• 1965: The Cincinnati Kid
• 1965: The Liquidator
• 1965: Once a Thief
• 1966: Murderers' Row
• 1967: The Fox
• 1967: The President's Analyst
• 1967: Cool Hand Luke
• 1968: Bullitt
• 1968: The Brotherhood
• 1968: Hell in the Pacific
• 1968: Coogan's Bluff
• 1968: Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows
• 1969: Che!
• 1970: Kelly's Heroes
• 1970: WUSA
• 1971: THX 1138
• 1971: The Beguiled
• 1971: Dirty Harry
• 1971: The Hellstrom Chronicle
• 1971: Pretty Maids All in a Row
• 1972: Prime Cut
• 1972: Joe Kidd
• 1972: Rage
• 1972: The Wrath of God
• 1973: Magnum Force
• 1973: Enter the Dragon
• 1973: Charley Varrick
• 1973: Harry in Your Pocket
• 1973: Hit!
• 1974: The Four Musketeers
• 1976: The Eagle Has Landed
• 1976: Voyage of the Damned
• 1977: Rollercoaster
• 1977: Telefon
• 1978: Return from Witch Mountain
• 1978: The Cat from Outer Space
• 1978: The Manitou
• 1979: The Amityville Horror
• 1979: Escape to Athena
• 1979: The Concorde ... Airport '79
• 1979: Boulevard Nights
• 1979: Love and Bullets
• 1980: Brubaker
• 1980: The Big Brawl
• 1980: When Time Ran Out
• 1980: The Competition
• 1980: Serial
• 1980: The Nude Bomb
• 1981: Caveman
• 1981: Loophole
• 1982: Amityville II: The Possession
• 1982: The Seduction
• 1983: Sudden Impact
• 1983: The Osterman Weekend
• 1983: Doctor Detroit
• 1983: The Sting II
• 1984: Tank
• 1985: Bad Medicine
• 1985: The Mean Season
• 1986: The Ladies Club
• 1986: Black Moon Rising
• 1987: The Fourth Protocol
• 1988: The Dead Pool
• 1989: Return From the River Kwai
• 1991: F/X2
• 1993: The Beverly Hillbillies
• 1996: Scorpion Spring
• 1997: Money Talks
• 1998: Tango
• 1998: Rush Hour
• 1998: Something to Believe In
• 2001: Rush Hour 2
• 2003: Bringing Down the House
• 2004: The Bridge of San Luis Rey
• 2004: After the Sunset
• 2006: Abominable
• 2007: Rush Hour 3

Television scores[link]

• 1964: The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
• 1965: The Big Valley
• 1966: T.H.E. Cat
• 1967: Mission: Impossible
• 1967: Mannix
• 1969: Medical Center
• 1974: Planet of the Apes
• 1975: Starsky and Hutch
• 1976: Most Wanted
• 1982: Chicago Story
• 1984: Glitter
• 1987: Sparky's Magic Piano

References[link]

External links[link]

• Lalo Schifrin's official website
• Lalo Schifrin at the Internet Movie Database
• Cinema Retro attends Lalo Schifrin's London concert
• Aleph Records Discography - record label operated by Schifrin
• Two Interviews with Lalo Schifrin by Bruce Duffie (June 23, 1988, and October 9, 2003)
• Lalo Schifrin Interview for WeirdMusic.net / UKtop40Charts.com Magazine

Dave Brubeck
Dave Brubeck at the White House for the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors
Background information
Birth name	David Warren Brubeck
Born	(1920-12-06) December 6, 1920 (age 91) Concord, California United States
Genres	Jazz Cool jazz West Coast jazz Third stream
Occupations	Pianist Composer Bandleader
Instruments	Piano
Years active	1940s–present
Associated acts	Dave Brubeck Quartet

David Warren "Dave" Brubeck (born December 6, 1920) is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills. His music is known for employing unusual time signatures, and superimposing contrasting rhythms, meters, and tonalities.

His long-time musical partner, alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, wrote the Dave Brubeck Quartet's best remembered piece, "Take Five",^[1] which is in 5/4 time and has endured as a jazz classic on the top-selling jazz album, Time Out.^[2] Brubeck experimented with time signatures throughout his career, recording "Pick Up Sticks" in 6/4, "Unsquare Dance" in 7/4, and "Blue Rondo à la Turk" in 9/8. He is also a respected composer of orchestral and sacred music, and wrote soundtracks for television such as Mr. Broadway and the animated mini-series This Is America, Charlie Brown.

Early life and career[link]

Brubeck was born in Concord, California^[1] and grew up in Ione. He is of English (maternal), Swiss and possibly Native American Modoc Tribe ^[3] multi-ethnic (paternal) ancestry^[4] His father, Howard "Pete" Brubeck, was a cattle rancher, and his mother, Elizabeth (née Ivey), who had studied piano in England under Myra Hess and intended to become a concert pianist, taught piano for extra money.^[5] Brubeck originally did not intend to become a musician (his two older brothers, Henry and Howard, were already on that track), but took lessons from his mother. He could not read sheet music during these early lessons, attributing this difficulty to poor eyesight, but "faked" his way through, well enough that this deficiency went mostly unnoticed.^[6]

Intending to work with his father on their ranch, Brubeck entered the College of the Pacific (now the University of the Pacific) studying veterinary science, but transferred on the urging of the head of zoology, Dr. Arnold, who told him "Brubeck, your mind's not here. It's across the lawn in the conservatory. Please go there. Stop wasting my time and yours".^[7] Later, Brubeck was nearly expelled when one of his professors discovered that he could not read music. Several of his professors came forward, arguing that his ability with counterpoint and harmony more than compensated. The college was still afraid that it would cause a scandal, and agreed to let Brubeck graduate only after he promised never to teach piano.^[8]

After graduating in 1942, Brubeck was drafted into the army and served overseas in George Patton's Third Army. He was spared from service in the Battle of the Bulge when he volunteered to play piano at a Red Cross show; he was such a hit he was ordered to form a band. Thus he created one of the US armed forces' first racially integrated bands, "The Wolfpack".^[8] While serving in the military, Brubeck met Paul Desmond in early 1944.^[9] He returned to college after serving nearly four years in the army, this time attending Mills College and studying under Darius Milhaud, who encouraged him to study fugue and orchestration, but not classical piano. While on active duty, he received two lessons from Arnold Schoenberg at UCLA in an attempt to connect with High Modernism theory and practice.^[10] However, the encounter did not end on good terms since Schoenberg believed that every note should be accounted for, an approach which Brubeck could not accept.

After completing his studies under Milhaud, Brubeck helped to establish Berkeley, California's Fantasy Records. He worked with an octet (the recording bears his name only because Brubeck was the best-known member at the time), and a trio including Cal Tjader and Ron Crotty. Highly experimental, the group made few recordings and got even fewer paying jobs. The trio was often joined by Paul Desmond on the bandstand, at Desmond's prodding.^[11]

Quartet era[link]

Following a near-fatal swimming accident which incapacitated him for several months, Brubeck organized The Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1951, with Desmond on saxophone. They took up a long residency at San Francisco's Black Hawk nightclub and gained great popularity touring college campuses, recording a series of albums with such titles as Jazz at Oberlin (1953), Jazz at College of the Pacific (1953), and Brubeck's debut on Columbia Records, Jazz Goes to College (1954). In that same year, he was featured on the cover of Time magazine, the second jazz musician to be so honored (the first was Louis Armstrong on February 21, 1949^[13]). Brubeck personally found this accolade embarrassing since he considered Duke Ellington more deserving of it and was convinced that himself being Caucasian as opposed to Ellington being African American was a factor for why he was favored.^[14]

Early bassists for the group included Ron Crotty, Bob Bates, and Bob's brother Norman Bates; Lloyd Davis and Joe Dodge held the drum chair. In 1956, Brubeck hired Joe Morello, who had been working with Marian McPartland; Morello's presence made possible the rhythmic experiments that were to come. In 1958 Eugene Wright joined for the group's US State Department tour of Europe and Asia. Wright became a permanent member in 1959, making the "classic" Quartet's personnel complete. Wright, however, is African-American. During the late 1950s and early 1960s Brubeck canceled several concerts because the club owners or hall managers continued to resisted the idea of an integrated band on their stages. He also canceled a television appearance when he found out that the producers intended to keep Wright off-camera.{Citation needed|date=May 2012}}

In 1959, the Dave Brubeck Quartet recorded Time Out, an album their label was enthusiastic about but nonetheless hesitant to release. Featuring the album art of S. Neil Fujita, the album contained all original compositions, almost none of which were in common time: 9/8, 5/4, 3/4, and 6/4 were used inspired by Eurasian folk music they experienced during that US State Department sponsored tour.^[15] Nonetheless, on the strength of these unusual time signatures (the album included "Take Five", "Blue Rondo à la Turk", and "Three To Get Ready"), it quickly went platinum.

Dave Brubeck Quartet 1967. From left to right: Joe Morello, Eugene Wright, Brubeck and Paul Desmond.

Time Out was followed by several albums with a similar approach, including Time Further Out: Miro Reflections (1961), using more 5/4, 6/4, and 9/8, plus the first attempt at 7/4; Countdown: Time in Outer Space (dedicated to John Glenn) (1962), featuring 11/4 and more 7/4; and Time Changes (1963), with much 3/4, 10/4 (which was really 5+5), and 13/4. These albums were also known for using contemporary paintings as cover art, featuring the work of Joan Miró on Time Further Out, Franz Kline on Time in Outer Space, and Sam Francis on Time Changes.

A high point for the group was their 1963 live album At Carnegie Hall, described by critic Richard Palmer as "arguably Dave Brubeck's greatest concert".

In the early 1960s, Brubeck and his wife Iola developed a jazz musical, The Real Ambassadors, based in part on experiences they and their colleagues had during foreign tours on behalf of the US State Department. The soundtrack album, which featured Louis Armstrong, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, and Carmen McRae was recorded in 1961; the musical itself was performed at the 1962 Monterey Jazz Festival.

At their peak in the early '60s, the Brubeck Quartet was releasing as many as four albums a year. Apart from the 'College' and the 'Time' series, Brubeck recorded four LPs featuring his compositions based on the group's travels, and the local music they encountered. Jazz Impressions of the USA (1956, Morello's debut with the group), Jazz Impressions of Eurasia (1958), Jazz Impressions of Japan (1964), and Jazz Impressions of New York (1964) are less well-known albums, but all are brilliant examples of the quartet's studio work, and they produced Brubeck standards such as "Summer Song," "Brandenburg Gate," "Koto Song," and "Theme From Mr. Broadway." (Brubeck wrote, and the Quartet performed, the theme song for the Craig Stevens CBS drama series; the music from the series became material for the "New York" album.)

In 1961 Dave Brubeck appeared in a few scenes of the British Jazz/Beat film All Night Long, which starred Patrick McGoohan and Richard Attenborough. Brubeck merely plays himself, and his piano playing includes closeups of his fingerings. Brubeck performs "It's a Raggy Waltz" from the Time Further Out album and duets briefly with bassist Charles Mingus in "Non-Sectarian Blues".

In the early 1960s Dave Brubeck was the program director of WJZZ-FM radio (now WEZN). He achieved his vision of an all jazz format radio station along with his friend and neighbor John E. Metts, one of the first African Americans in senior radio management.

The final studio album for Columbia by the Desmond/Wright/Morello quartet was Anything Goes (1966) featuring Cole Porter songs. A few concert recordings followed, and The Last Time We Saw Paris (1967) was the "Classic" Quartet's swansong.

Later career[link]

Brubeck in a 1972 performance in Hamburg

Brubeck's disbanding of the Quartet at the end of 1967 allowed him more time to compose the longer, extended orchestral and choral works that were occupying his attention (to say nothing of Brubeck's desire to spend more time with his family). February 1968 saw the premiere of The Light in the Wilderness for baritone solo, choir, organ, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conducted by Erich Kunzel, and Brubeck improvising on certain themes within. The piece is an oratorio on Jesus's teachings. The next year, Brubeck produced The Gates of Justice, a cantata mixing Biblical scripture with the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Personal life[link]

Four of Brubeck's six children are professional musicians. Darius, the eldest, is an accomplished pianist, producer, educator and performer. (He was named after Dave Brubeck's mentor Darius Milhaud.^[16]) Dan is a renowned percussionist, Chris is a multi-instrumentalist and composer. Matthew, the youngest, is a versatile cellist with an impressive list of composing and performance credits. Brubeck's children often join with him in concerts and in the recording studio.

Brubeck in 2005

Brubeck believed what he saw during World War II contradicted the Ten Commandments, and the war evoked a spiritual awakening.^{[citation needed]} He became a Catholic in 1980, shortly after completing the Mass To Hope which had been commissioned by Ed Murray, editor of the national Catholic weekly Our Sunday Visitor. Although he had spiritual interests before that time, he said, "I didn't convert to Catholicism, because I wasn't anything to convert from. I just joined the Catholic Church."^[17] In 1996, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2006, Brubeck was awarded the University of Notre Dame's Laetare Medal, the oldest and most prestigious^[18] honor given to American Catholics, during the University's commencement. He performed "Travellin' Blues" for the graduating class of 2006.

Brubeck founded the Brubeck Institute with his wife Iola at their alma mater, the University of the Pacific in 2000. What began as a special archive, consisting of the personal document collection of the Brubecks has since expanded to provide fellowships and educational opportunities in jazz for students, also leading to having one of the main streets the school resides on named in his honor, Dave Brubeck Way.^[19]

Recognition[link]

Dave Brubeck (third from left), amongst Kennedy Center honorees 2009, flanked by President and Mrs. Obama at the Blue Room, White House, December 6, 2009.

On April 8, 2008, United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice presented Brubeck with a "Benjamin Franklin Award for Public Diplomacy" for offering an American "vision of hope, opportunity and freedom" through his music.^[20] "As a little girl I grew up on the sounds of Dave Brubeck because my dad was your biggest fan," said Rice.^[21] The State Department said in a statement that "as a pianist, composer, cultural emissary and educator, Dave Brubeck's life's work exemplifies the best of America's cultural diplomacy."^[20] At the ceremony Brubeck played a brief recital for the audience at the State Department.^[20] "I want to thank all of you because this honor is something that I never expected. Now I am going to play a cold piano with cold hands," Brubeck stated.^[20]

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver announced on May 28, 2008 that Brubeck would be inducted into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts. The induction ceremony occurred December 10, and he was inducted alongside eleven other legendary Californians.^[22]