Basque Country Euskadi (Basque)1 País Vasco (Spanish)
—  Autonomous Community  —
Autonomous Community of the Basque Country Euskal Autonomia Erkidegoa2 (Basque) Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco (Spanish)
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: Eusko Abendaren Ereserkia
Map of Basque Country
Coordinates: 42°50′N 2°41′W / 42.833°N 2.683°W / 42.833; -2.683Coordinates: 42°50′N 2°41′W / 42.833°N 2.683°W / 42.833; -2.683
Country	Spain
Capital	Vitoria-Gasteiz
Provinces	Álava, Biscay, and Gipuzkoa
Government
• Type	Devolved government in a constitutional monarchy
• Body	Basque Government
• Lehendakari	Patxi López (PSOE/PSE-EE)
Area
• Total	7,234 km2 (2,793 sq mi)
Area rank	14th (1.4% of Spain)
Population (2008)
• Total	2,155,546
• Density	300/km2 (770/sq mi)
• Pop. rank	7th (4.9% of Spain)
Demonym	Basque euskaldun vasco (m), vasca (f)
Area code	+34 94-
ISO 3166 code	ES-PV
Statute of Autonomy	25 October 1979
Official languages	Basque and Spanish
Legislature
Parliament	75 deputies
Congress	19 deputies (out of 350)
Senate	15 senators (out of 264)
Website	Basque Government
1.^ According to the Basque Statute of Autonomy also Euskal Herria. 2.^ According to the Basque Statute of Autonomy also Euskal Herriko Autonomia Erkidegoa.

The Basque Country (English /ˈbæsk/, /ˈbɑːsk/; Basque: Euskadi [eus̺kadi]; Spanish: País Vasco [paˈiz ˈβasko]) is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories.

The Basque Country or Basque Autonomous Community was granted the status of nationality within Spain, attributed by the Spanish Constitution of 1978 to separate ethnic realities. The autonomous community is based on the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country, a foundational legal document providing the framework for the development of the Basque people on Spanish soil. Notwithstanding this spirit, the territory of Navarre was left out and made into a separate autonomous community. The capital is Vitoria-Gasteiz (Vitoria is the name in Spanish, Gasteiz in Basque), located in the province of Álava, and Bilbao its largest city, located in the province of Biscay.

The autonomous community of the Basque Country should not be confused with the larger Basque Country (Basque: Euskal Herria) of which it is a component part.

Geography[link]

The following provinces make up the autonomous community:

• Álava (Basque Araba), capital Vitoria-Gasteiz
• Biscay (Spanish Vizcaya, Basque Bizkaia), capital Bilbao
• Gipuzkoa (Spanish Guipúzcoa), capital Donostia-San Sebastián

Features[link]

Txindoki mountain from Lazkaomendi

Basque coast near Mundaka

Rioja vineyards near the Ebro

The Basque Country borders with Cantabria and the Burgos province to the west, the Bay of Biscay to the north, France and Navarre to the east and La Rioja (the Ebro River) to the south. The territory has three distinct areas, that are defined by the two parallel ranges of the Basque Mountains. The main range of mountains forms the water divide of the Atlantic and Mediterranean basins. The highest point of the range is in the Aizkorri massif (1551 m). The three areas are:

The Atlantic Basin[link]

Formed by many valleys with short rivers that flow from the mountains to the Bay of Biscay, like the Nervión, Urola or Oria. The coast is rough, with high cliffs and small inlets. The main features of the coast are the Bilbao Abra Bay and the Estuary of Bilbao, the Urdaibai estuary and the Bidasoa-Txingudi Bay that forms the border with France.

The middle section[link]

Between the two mountain ranges, the area is occupied mainly by a high plateau called Llanada Alavesa (Álava plains) where the capital Gasteiz is located. The rivers flow in southern direction from the mountains to the Ebro river. Main rivers are Zadorra and Bayas river.

The Ebro Valley[link]

From the southern mountains to the Ebro is the so called Rioja Alavesa, that shares the Mediterranean characteristics of other Ebro Valley zones, here is produced part of the Rioja wine.

Climate[link]

The Basque mountains form the water divide and mark also the distinct climatic areas of the Basque Country: The northern valleys, in Biscay and Gipuzkoa and also the valley of Ayala in Álava, are part of the Green Spain, where oceanic climate is predominant, with its wet weather all year round and moderate temperatures. Precipitation average is about 1200 mm.

The middle section has a more Continental Mediterranean climate, but with some influence of the northern oceanic one, this causes dry and warm summers and cold and snowy winters. The Ebro valley has a pure Continental Mediterranean climate, winters are cold and dry and summers very warm and dry, with precipitation peaking in spring and autumn. Precipitation is scarce and irregular, as low as 300 mm.

Demography[link]

Panorama of Bilbao

View of San Sebastián

Hondarribia town

Almost half of the 2,155,546 inhabitants of the Basque Country live in Greater Bilbao, Bilbao's metropolitan area. Of the ten most populous cities, six form part of Bilbao's conurbation (Bilbao, Barakaldo, Getxo, Portugalete, Santurce and Basauri).

At 28.2% of the Basque population born outside this region,^[1] immigration is crucial to Basque demographics. Over the 20th century most of this immigration came from other parts of Spain, typically from Galicia or Castile and León. Over the last years, sizeable numbers of this population have returned to their birthplaces whereas immigration to the Basque country currently originates abroad, chiefly from South America.^[1]

Major cities[link]

1. Bilbao (354,145)
2. Vitoria-Gasteiz (226,490)
3. San Sebastián (183,308)
4. Barakaldo (95,675)
5. Getxo (83,000)
6. Irun (59,557)
7. Portugalete (51,066)
8. Santurtzi (47,320)
9. Basauri (45,045)
10. Errenteria (38,397)

Languages[link]

Spanish and Basque are co-official in all territories of the Community, but only Spanish is compulsory. The Basque-speaking area in the area of the modern-day Autonomous Community has experienced both decline and expansion in its history. For much of the 20th century, until the relatively recent advent of Basque in the education system, it had a strong presence in most of Gipuzkoa, Central and Eastern Biscay and the northern edge of Álava, while few native Basque speaking communities existed in Western Biscay and most of Álava.

The 2006 sociolinguistic survey^[2] of all Basque provinces showed that in 2006 of all people aged 16 and above in the Basque Autonomous Community, 30.1% were fluent Basque speakers, 18.3% passive speakers and 51.5% did not speak Basque. The percentage was highest in Gipuzkoa (49.1% speakers) and lowest in Álava (14.2%). These results represent an increase on previous years (29.5% in 2001, 27.7% in 1996 and 24.1% in 1991). The highest percentage of speakers can now be found in the 16-24 age range (57.5%) vs 25.0% in the 65+ age range.

History[link]

The historic Oak of Gernika, symbol of the Basque institutions.

Good Shepherd Cathedral of San Sebastián

This section is about the history of the Autonomous Community since 1978. See also History of the Basque people

The forerunner of the Gernika Statute was the short-lived Statute of Autonomy for Álava, Gipuzkoa and Biscay enforced in October 1936 just in Biscay with the Spanish Civil War already raging and automatically abolished when the Spanish Nationalist troops occupied the territory.

Before the Spanish Constitution of 1978 and its system of autonomous communities, these three provinces were known in Spanish as the Provincias Vascongadas. The political structure of the new autonomous community is defined in the Gernika Statute, which was approved by a majority in a referendum held on 25 October 1979. Nowadays it is one of the most decentralized regions in the world, in this regard it has been quoted as having "more autonomy than just about any other in Europe"^[3] by The Economist.

As regards the bounds to the Spanish Constitution, Basque nationalists cite the fact that in the 1978 Spanish Constitution referendum, which was passed with a majority of votes and a poor turnout in this area, the Basque Country had the highest abstention^[4] (the Basque Nationalist Party had endorsed abstention on the grounds that the Constitution was being forced upon them without any Basque input). To this, the "no" vote in this referendum was also higher in the Basque Country than in the rest of the state. All in all, many Basques believe that they are not bound to a constitution that they never endorsed.

The Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country is a constitutional law but powers have been devolved gradually during decades according to re-negotiations between the Spanish and the consecutive Basque regional governments to reach an effective implementation, while the transfer of many powers are still due and has always been a matter of heated political discussion. Basque nationalists often put down this limitation in the devolution of powers to concessions made to appease the military involved in the 23-F coup d'état attempt (1981).

In 2003, the governing Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) proposed to alter this statute through the Ibarretxe Plan. The bill, though approved by majority in the Basque chamber, was subject to lengthy legal objections (on the grounds that it contradicts the Spanish Constitution) but was finally discussed and rejected in January 2005 by a large majority in the Madrid Cortes Generales.

Since the first autonomic cabinet, the Basque Nationalist Party has led office in the Basque Autonomous Community up to May 5, 2009, when after thirty years the Lehendakaritza (Basque presidency) was first handed over to the Basque Socialist Party's candidate Patxi López, after an unprecedented agreement with the conservative Popular Party.^[5] The new coalition based its power on a new majority formed by outlawing the Basque nationalist leftists deemed by the Spanish judiciary linked to ETA, with more than 100,000 votes coming from that political force considered void.

Economy[link]

The Basque Autonomous Community is currently the wealthiest region in Spain, with gross domestic product (GDP) per capita being 40% higher than that of the European Union and 33.8% higher than Spain's average in 2008, at €31,712 EUR.^[6] Industrial activities were traditionally centered on steel and shipbuilding, mainly due to the rich iron ore resources found during the 19th century around Bilbao. The Estuary of Bilbao was the center of the Basque Country's industrial revolution during the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. These activities decayed during the economic crisis of the 1970s and 1980s, giving ground for the development of the services sector and new technologies.

Today, the strongest industrial sectors of the Basque Country's economy are machine tool, present in the valleys of Biscay and Gipuzkoa, aeronautics in Vitoria-Gasteiz and energy, in Bilbao.

The main companies in the Basque Country are: BBVA bank, Iberdrola energy company, (both of them have their headquarters in Bilbao) Mondragón Cooperative Corporation that is the largest cooperative in the world, Gamesa wind turbine producer and CAF rolling stock producer.

In 2009 and during the financial crisis the Basque Country outperformed Spain as a whole. Unemployment in the Basque country is roughly 10%, a percentage in line with the EU average. Spain as a whole is the country with the highest unemployment rate in the European Union, at 19.5%. In the last quarter of 2009 unemployment went down by 3,500 people. Spain's unemployment went up by over 100,000 people in the same period.

In regards to GDP performance, Q4 meant that the Basque Country was out of recession with a 0.2% growth. The Spanish economy as a whole remained in recession after Q4.

During 2009 the Basque economy contracted by -3.3% compared to a -3.6% in the rest of Spain.

Transport[link]

AP-8 in Eibar

The strategic geographical location of the Basque Country as a link between the northwest and centre of Spain and the rest of Europe makes this territory a very transited one.

Road[link]

The main backbones of road transport are the AP-8 motorway that links Bilbao, San Sebastián and the French border and the A-1 motorway that links San Sebastián and Gasteiz with central Spain. Other important routes include the AP-68 motorway that links Bilbao with the Mediterranean.

Rail[link]

Eusko Trenbide Sarea (Basque Railway Network) is the Basque Government-owned company that maintains and creates the railway infrastructure in the autonomous region. EuskoTren (Basque Train) is the Basque Government-owned narrow gauge rail company that operates commuter services in Bilbao and San Sebastián, intercity Bilbao-San Sebastián service, and EuskoTran tram services in Bilbao and Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Metro Bilbao operates the two metro lines that serve the Greater Bilbao area.

The Spanish government owns two main RENFE broad gauge lines that link Gasteiz with San Sebastián and Bilbao with central Spain. It also operates Cercanías commuter lines in both Bilbao and San Sebastián.

The Basque Y

FEVE narrow gauge company operates a commuter line between Bilbao and Balmaseda and links Bilbao with the rest of northern Spain.

A new high speed network (called Basque Y) is under construction, that will link the three capitals in 'Y' formation. It is scheduled to be completed in 2013, including a connection with the French TGV network in Hendaye. Because of the rough geography of the territory, most of the network will run through tunnels, with a total estimated cost of up to €10billion. The estimated ecological impact of the project has encouraged the formation of a group campaigning against it called AHTrik Ez Elkarlana. The group uses social disobedience to oppose the project and promotes referendums against it in the towns it affects most. In spite of a relatively spread opposition of people to the project the work is going on.

Airports[link]

Bilbao Airport

The three capitals have airports:

• Bilbao Airport {BIO} International.
• Vitoria Airport {VIT}.
• San Sebastián Airport {EAS}.

Of the three, the most important hub and entry point to the Basque Country is Bilbao Airport, offering many international connections and through which moved over 4,200,000 passengers in 2007.

Seaports[link]

The two most important ports are the Port of Bilbao and the Port of Pasaia. There are other minor fishing ports like Bermeo and Ondarroa.

The Port of Bilbao is by far the most important of the Basque Country and the north of Spain, being the fourth most important in Spain with over 38 million tons of traffic.

All the cruising routes arrive to Bilbao, there is a ferry service that links Bilbao with Portsmouth (United Kingdom).

Cuisine[link]

Two sample pintxos

Basque cuisine is an important part of Basque culture. According to the chef Ferran Adrià, San Sebastián "in terms of the average quality of the food, in terms of what you can get at any place you happen to walk into, maybe it is - probably it is, yes - the best in the world."^[7] The most popular dishes there are the seafood, fish (for example Marmitako) and the "Pintxos", bar finger food.

Basque food is one of the reasons for tourism to the Basque Country, especially the pintxos. A popular way to socialize is "ir de pintxos" or txikiteo, a Basque version of a pub crawl, albeit generally more civilized.

Politics[link]

Government[link]

Basque parliament building in Vitoria-Gasteiz.

The current laws configure the autonomous community as a federation of the three constituent provinces, which had been ruled locally since their incorporation to Castile in 1200 by their own laws and institutions in what is known as the Foral System. These autonomous regimes, similar to the one for Navarre, were curtailed in the 19th century, largely suspended under Franco, but restored by the Spanish Constitution of 1978.

The post-Franco Spanish Constitution of 1978 acknowledges "historical rights" and attempts compromise in the old conflict between centralism and federalism by the establishment of autonomous communities (e.g. Castile and León, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, etc.). The provincial governments (diputación foral) were restored only in the Basque Country and Navarre, but many of their powers were transferred to the new government of the Basque Country and Navarra autonomous communities; however, the provinces still perform tax collection in their respective territories, coordinating with the Basque, Spanish and European governments.

Under this system the Diputaciones Forales (Basque: Foru Aldundiak) administer most of each of the provinces but are coordinated and centralized by the autonomous Basque Government (Spanish Gobierno Vasco, Basque: Eusko Jaurlaritza).

Ajuria Enea Palace, official residence of the Lehendakari in Vitoria-Gasteiz.

The seats of the Basque Parliament and Government are in Vitoria-Gasteiz, so this is the capital city de facto, but the Basque Autonomous Community has no capital de iure.^[8][9] The Parliament is composed of 25 representatives from each of the three provinces. The Basque Parliament elects the Lehendakari (President) who forms a government following regular parliamentary procedures. Until 2009 all Lehendakaris (even those in 1937 and during the exile) have been members of the Basque Nationalist Party (Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea) (moderate and Christian-Democrat) since 1978. Despite their continued leadership role, they have not always enjoyed majorities for their party and have needed to form coalitions with either Spain wide parties or left-leaning Basque nationalist parties, often governing in a difficult minority position.^{[citation needed]}

Ertzaintza police car in Bilbao.

The former government was led by Juan José Ibarretxe (Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea) and supported also by left-leaning nationalists of Eusko Alkartasuna (Basque Solidarity) and Communist-dominated Ezker Batua (United Left).

Both non-regional parties, Partido Socialista de Euskadi (federated to the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) and Partido Popular (People's Party) reached an agreement in the votation for new president and Patxi López was elected as Lehendakari on May 5, 2009, ending a thirty year nationalist predominance.

The autonomous community has its own police force (the Ertzaintza), controls the education and health systems, and has a Basque radio/TV station. These and other powers have since 1980 been transferred to the Autonomous Community by the Cortes Generales under the Gernika Statute.^[10]

Territorial issues[link]

Poster in a street of Zestoa

The statute, insofar as it is addressed and provides an administrative framework for the Basque people, provides the mechanisms for neighbouring Navarre to join the three western provinces if it wishes to do so, since at least part of it is ethnically Basque. The Basque Government used the "Laurak Bat", which included the arms of Navarre, as its symbol for many years. The Navarrese Government protested, and tribunals ruled in their favour. The Basque Government replaced it with an empty red field.

Navarre is one of the historical Basque territories and even claimed by the Basque nationalists as the core of the Basque nation. There are also two enclaves surrounded by Basque territory—Treviño (Basque: Trebiñu) and Valle de Villaverde (Basque: Villaverde-Turtzioz)—which belong to the fellow neighbouring communities of Castile and León and Cantabria respectively, for which a legal connection to the Basque Country has become an on-off matter of political discussion.

See also[link]

Basque portal

• Basque Country (greater region)
• Basque people
• Basque mythology
• Tourism in the Basque Autonomous Community

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Basque Autonomous Community

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Basque Provinces.

• Basque Government
• José Aranda Aznar, “La mezcla del pueblo vasco”, en Empiria: Revista de metodología de ciencias sociales, ISSN 1139-5737, Nº 1, 1998, págs. 121-180.

v t e Autonomies of Spain Autonomous communities Andalusia Aragon Asturias Balearic Islands Basque Country Canary Islands Cantabria Castile–La Mancha Castile and León Catalonia Extremadura Galicia La Rioja Community of Madrid Region of Murcia Navarre Valencian Community Autonomous cities Ceuta Melilla Plazas de soberanía Islas Chafarinas Peñón de Alhucemas Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera

v t e Traditional provinces of the Basque Country Southern Basque Country Basque Autonomous Community Gipuzkoa Álava Biscay Navarre Northern Basque Country Labourd Lower Navarre Soule

Map showing the geographical and political divisions of the Basque Country

The Basque Country may refer to one of three areas inhabited by the Basque people:

• The Basque Country (autonomous community) (Comunidad Autónoma Vasca, Euskadi, País Vasco or Vascongadas), an autonomous community of Spain (shown in pink on the map)
• The Basque Country (greater region) (Euskal Herria, País Vasco, Pays Basque), the approximate cultural area of Basque culture and language
• The Northern Basque Country (Iparralde, Pays Basque or Pays Basque Nord), the three (historic) northern provinces in France (shown in yellow on the map).
• The Southern Basque Country (Hegoalde) is a term used in Basque to refer to the Basque provinces in Spain i.e. the Autonomous Basque Community plus Navarre (shown in pink and green on the map).

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

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]

In September 2009, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced Brubeck as a Kennedy Center Honoree for exhibiting excellence in performance arts.^[23] The Kennedy Center Honors Gala took place on Sunday, December 6 (Brubeck's 89th birthday) and was broadcast nationwide on CBS on December 29 at 9:00 pm EST.

On September 20, 2009, at Monterey Jazz Festival, Brubeck was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree (D.Mus. honoris causa) from Berklee College of Music.^[24]

On May 16, 2010, Brubeck was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree (honoris causa) from The George Washington University in Washington, DC. The ceremony took place on the National Mall.^{[citation needed]}

On July 5, 2010, Brubeck was awarded the Miles-Davis Award at the Montreal International Jazz Festival.^{[citation needed]}In 2010, Bruce Ricker and Clint Eastwood produced a documentary Dave Brubeck: In His Own Sweet Way about Brubeck for Turner Classic Movies (TCM) to commemorate his 90th birthday in December 2010.^[25]

Brubeck has become a supporter of the Jazz Foundation of America in their mission to save the homes and the lives of elderly jazz and blues musicians, including musicians that survived Hurricane Katrina.^[26] Brubeck supported the Jazz Foundation by performing in their annual benefit concert "A Great Night in Harlem" in 2006.^[27]

Awards[link]

• Connecticut Arts Award (1987)
• National Medal of Arts, National Endowment for the Arts (1994)
• DownBeat Hall of Fame (1994)
• Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1996)
• Doctorate honoris causa University of Fribourg, Switzerland (2004)
• Laetare Medal (University of Notre Dame) (2006)
• BBC Jazz Lifetime Achievement Award (2007)
• Benjamin Franklin Award for Public Diplomacy (2008)^[20]
• Inducted into California Hall of Fame (2008)
• Kennedy Centre Honour (2009)^[28]
• George Washington University Honorary Degree (2010)^[29]
• Honorary Fellow of Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey (2011)

Discography[link]

• Brubeck Trio with Cal Tjader, Volume 1 (1949)
• Brubeck Trio with Cal Tjader, Volume 2 (1949)
• Brubeck/Desmond (1951)
• Stardust (1951)
• Dave Brubeck Quartet (1951)
• Jazz at the Blackhawk (1952)
• Dave Brubeck/Paul Desmond (1952)
• Jazz at Storyville (live) (1952)
• featuring Paul Desmond In Concert (live) (1953)
• Two Knights at the Black Hawk (1953)
• Jazz at Oberlin (1953) Fantasy Records
• Dave Brubeck & Paul Desmond at Wilshire Ebell (1953)
• Jazz at the College of the Pacific (1953) Fantasy Records
• Jazz Goes to College (1954) Columbia Records
• Dave Brubeck at Storyville 1954 (live) (1954)
• Brubeck Time (1955)
• Jazz: Red Hot And Cool (1955)
• Brubeck Plays Brubeck (1956)
• Dave Brubeck and Jay & Kai at Newport (1956)
• Jazz Impressions of the U.S.A. (1956)
• Plays and Plays and... (1957) Fantasy Records
• Reunion (1957) Fantasy Records
• Jazz Goes to Junior College (live) (1957)
• Dave Digs Disney (1957)
• In Europe (1958)
• Complete 1958 Berlin Concert (released 2008)
• Newport 1958
• Jazz Impressions of Eurasia (1958)
• Gone with the Wind (1959) Columbia Records
• Time Out (1959) Columbia Records/Legacy (RIAA: Platinum)
• Southern Scene (1960)
• The Riddle (1960)
• Brubeck and Rushing (1960)
• Brubeck a la Mode (1961) Fantasy Records
• Tonight Only with the Dave Brubeck Quartet (1961, with Carmen McRae)
• Take Five Live (1961, Live, Columbia Records, with Carmen McRae, released 1965)
• Near-Myth (1961) Fantasy Records
• Bernstein Plays Brubeck Plays Bernstein (1961)
• Time Further Out (1961) Columbia Records/Legacy
• Countdown—Time in Outer Space (1962) Columbia Records
• The Real Ambassadors (1962)
• Music From West Side Story (1962)
• Bossa Nova U.S.A. (1962)
• Brubeck in Amsterdam (1962, released 1969)
• Brandenburg Gate: Revisited (1963) Columbia Records
• At Carnegie Hall (1963)
• Time Changes (album) (1963)
• Dave Brubeck in Berlin (1964)
• Jazz Impressions of Japan (1964) Columbia Records/Legacy
• Jazz Impressions of New York (1964) Columbia Records/Legacy
• Angel Eyes (1965)
• My Favorite Things (1965)
• The 1965 Canadian Concert (released 2008)
• Time In (1966) Columbia Records
• Anything Goes (1966)
• Bravo! Brubeck! (1967)
• Buried Treasures (1967, released 1998)
• Jackpot (1967) Columbia Records
• The Last Time We Saw Paris (1968)
• Adventures in Time (Compilation, 1972) Columbia Records
• The Light in the Wilderness (1968)
• Compadres (1968)
• Blues Roots (1968)
• Brubeck/Mulligan/Cincinnati (1970)
• Live at the Berlin Philharmonie (1970)
• The Last Set at Newport (1971) Atlantic Records
• Truth is Fallen (1972)
• We're All Together Again For the First Time (1973)
• Two Generations of Brubeck (1973)
• Brother, the Great Spirit Made Us All (1974)
• All The Things We Are (1974)
• Brubeck & Desmond 1975: The Duets
• DBQ 25th Anniversary Reunion (1976) A&M Records
• The New Brubeck Quartet Live at Montreux (1978)
• A Cut Above (1978)
• La Fiesta de la Posada (1979)
• Back Home (1979) Concord Records
• A Place in Time (1980)
• Tritonis (1980) Concord Records
• To Hope! A Celebration By Dave Brubeck (A Mass in the Revised Roman Ritual) - Original now out-of-print 1980 recording conducted by Erich Kunzel. Pastoral Arts Associates (PAA) of North America, Old Hickory, Nashville, Tennesses 37187 LP record number DRP-8318. Music Copyright 1979 St. Francis Music. Recording Copyright 1980 Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.
• Paper Moon (1982) Concord Records
• Concord on a Summer Night (1982)
• For Iola (1984)
• Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz with guest Dave Brubeck (1984, released 1993)
• Reflections (1985)
• Blue Rondo (1986)
• Moscow Night (1987)
• New Wine (1987, released 1990)
• The Great Concerts (Compilation, 1988)
• Quiet As The Moon (Charlie Brown soundtrack) (1991)
• Once When I Was Very Young (1991)
• Time Signatures: A Career Retrospective (Compilation, 1992) Sony Colombia Legacy
• Trio Brubeck (1993)
• Late Night Brubeck (1994)
• Just You, Just Me (solo) (1994)
• Nightshift (1995)
• Young Lions & Old Tigers (1995)
• To Hope! A Celebration (1996)
• A Dave Brubeck Christmas (1996)
• In Their Own Sweet Way (1997)
• So What's New? (1998)
• The 40th Anniversary Tour of the U.K. (1999)
• One Alone (2000)
• Double Live From the USA & UK (2001)
• The Crossing (2001)
• Vocal Encounters (Compilation, 2001) Sony Records
• Classical Brubeck (with the London Symphony Orchestra, 2003) Telarc
• Park Avenue South (2003)
• The Gates of Justice (2004)
• Private Brubeck Remembers (solo piano + Interview disc w. Walter Cronkite) (2004)
• London Flat, London Sharp (2005) Telarc
• Indian Summer (2007) Telarc
• Live at the Monterey Jazz Festival 1958–2007 (2008)
• Yo-Yo Ma & Friends Brubeck tracks: Joy to the World, Concordia. (2008)Sony BMG
• Everybody Wants To Be A Cat: Disney Jazz Volume 1 Brubeck tracks: Some Day My Prince Will Come, Alice In Wonderland (with Roberta Gambarini) (2011)
• Their Last Time Out (DBQ recorded Live, 12/26/67) (2011)

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Isenberg, Barbara. State of the Arts: California Artists Talk About Their Work. 2005

Others[link]

• Photographs, documents, and video clips of oral history interviews from the Brubeck Collection are available at the University of the Pacific Library's Digital Collections.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dave Brubeck

• Official website