Dave E. Dexter, Jr. (1915 – 1990) was an American music journalist, record company executive, and producer known primarily for his long association with Capitol Records. He worked with many important figures in jazz and traditional popular music, including Count Basie, Peggy Lee, Duke Ellington, and Frank Sinatra. He is also known for his role in packaging and sometimes altering the recordings of The Beatles for the American market.

Jazz and pop career[link]

Dexter was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. His career in music began in journalism, as he wrote about music for the Kansas City Journal-Post and then for Down Beat magazine in the late 1930s and early 1940s. During this time, he produced an album entitled Kansas City Jazz which documented his hometown's jazz scene, showcasing such talents as Count Basie, Lester Young, and Big Joe Turner.^[1]

In 1943, Dexter joined Capitol Records, established the previous year, initially writing press releases and doing other publicity work, but eventually rising to the position of A&R representative. Over the next three decades, he signed some of the biggest names in music to the label, including Frank Sinatra, Stan Kenton, Peggy Lee,^[2] Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, Woody Herman and Kay Starr.^[1] He produced the first Dixieland recordings to reach the music charts, and was responsible for the landmark 1944 collection The History of Jazz.^[3] He also compiled a series of world music albums, Capitol of the World, and served as editor of the company's own publication, Capitol News.^[2] His productions included the Duke Ellington classic "Satin Doll".^[2]

Dexter wanted the label to focus more on jazz than on rock and roll and hit singles. In a 1956 memo, he complained that the music business was being driven by the tastes of children, and derided current hits by such artists as Elvis Presley and Guy Mitchell as "juvenile and maddeningly repetitive."^[4]

The Beatles[link]

After 97% of Capitol stock was acquired by the British company EMI in 1955, Dexter was placed in charge of screening that company's releases to determine if they were suitable for American release. He rejected most, and Capitol gave little promotional support to those records from EMI that were released.^[5] When The Beatles were initially signed to EMI's Parlophone label and began to enjoy success in Britain, Dexter turned down their initial releases. He was finally persuaded to release "I Want To Hold Your Hand" in late 1963.

Dexter oversaw The Beatles' American releases for the next several years, compiling the albums for the different needs of the American market, where albums tended to be shorter than their UK counterparts, and where hit singles were routinely included on albums rather than being considered separate as was then common in the UK. Dexter also remixed some of the recordings, frequently adding reverb and altering the stereo picture.^[2] The resulting albums achieved great success, but have often been criticized over the years; critic Dave Marsh, for example, referred to Dexter's treatment of the recordings as "genuine stupidity".^[6] The Dexter-produced versions of the Beatles canon were released on CD in the form of the box sets The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 and The Capitol Albums, Volume 2.

Later career[link]

Dexter left Capitol in the mid-1970s; he had been demoted in 1966 to, as he called it, "a job with no title". He subsequently wrote for Billboard magazine;^[1] he infamously wrote a highly critical article on John Lennon in the tribute edition of the magazine following Lennon's 1980 murder resulting in a sponsor boycott, prompting the magazine to both apologize and to publish a repudiation of sorts of the claims in Dexter's story. He also produced a radio show entitled Here's to Veterans for the Veteran's Administration.^[2] While with Billboard, he published an autobiography, entitled Playback; his previous books included Jazz Cavalcade (1946) and The Jazz Story, From the '90s to the '60s (1964). He was a tireless supporter of younger musicians and wrote the liner notes for the Fullerton College Jazz Band, 1983 Down Beat award winning LP Time Tripping released on the Discovery/Trend Records AM-PM label by his long time friend Albert Marx.

Tributes[link]

Count Basie recorded "Diggin' For Dex" in Dexter's honor, while Jay McShann did likewise with "Dexter's Blues".^[1]

Death[link]

Dexter died in his sleep in his home in Sherman Oaks, California on April 26, 1990. He was 74.^[7]

References[link]

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "Dexter, Jr., Dave E. "Dex"". Club Kaycee. University of Missouri-Kansas City. 1996. http://web2.umkc.edu/orgs/kcjazz/jazzfolk/dextd_00.htm. Retrieved April 14, 2010. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Dave E. Dexter, Jr. Collection: Biographical Sketch". LaBudde Special Collections Dept.. University of Missouri-Kansas City University Libraries. http://library.umkc.edu/spec-col-collections/dexter. Retrieved April 14, 2010. 
3. ^ Levin, Floyd (2000). Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. pp. 259–261. ISBN 0-520-23463-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=waUQxbk4qI4C&pg=PA259&lpg=PA259&dq=%22dave+dexter%22+jr&source=bl&ots=YBq2OjPsOq&sig=eBRsvBpYJGAwef-19hd_16ouJCI&hl=en&ei=HRHGS6u9KYH88AaLpuGeDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAzgU#v=onepage&q=%22dave%20dexter%22%20jr&f=false. Retrieved April 14, 2010. 
4. ^ Gould, Jonathan (2007). Can't Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain, and America. New York: Harmony Books. p. 198. ISBN 978-0-307-35337-5. 
5. ^ Spitz, Bob (2005). The Beatles: The Biography. New York: Little, Brown and Company. p. 387. ISBN 0-316-80352-9. 
6. ^ Kirby, David (Dec. 2, 2007). "Got A Hold On Me". Book Review. The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/books/review/Kirby2-t.html. Retrieved April 14, 2010. 
7. ^ "Dave Dexter Jr.". Other News To Note Deaths. Orlando Sentinal. April 22, 1990. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1990-04-22/news/9004226050_1_dave-dexter-jazz-kansas-city. Retrieved April 14, 2010. 

External links[link]

• The Dave E. Dexter, Jr. Collection at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

João Gilberto
Background information
Birth name	João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira
Born	(1931-06-10) June 10, 1931 (age 81)
Origin	Juazeiro, Bahia, Brazil
Genres	Bossa nova, Samba, Brazilian jazz, Latin jazz
Occupations	Guitarist, singer, Songwriter
Instruments	Singer, guitarist
Years active	1950–present
Notable instruments
Guitar

João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira, known as João Gilberto (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈʒwɐ̃w ʒiwˈbɛʁtu];^[1] June 10, 1931), is a Brazilian singer and guitarist. His seminal recordings, including many songs by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, established the new musical genre of Bossa nova in the late 1950s.

Biography[link]

João Gilberto was born in Juazeiro, Bahia. From an early age, music was a part of Gilberto's life. His grandfather bought him his first guitar at the age of 14. During high school, Gilberto teamed up with some of his classmates to form a small band. Gilberto, who led the band, was influenced by Brazilian popular songs, American jazz, and even some opera, among other genres. After trying his luck as a radio singer in Salvador, Bahia, the young Gilberto was recruited in 1950 as lead singer of the vocal quintet Garotos da Lua (Moon Boys) and moved to Rio de Janeiro. A year and a half later, he was dismissed from the group for his lack of discipline (he would often show up late to rehearsals or not at all).

João Gilberto's first recordings were released in Brazil as two-song 78-rpm singles between 1951 and 1959. In the 1960s, Brazilian singles evolved to the "double compact" format, and João would release some EPs in this new format, which carried 4 songs on a 45-rpm record.

For seven years, Gilberto's career was at a low ebb. He rarely had any work, was dependent on his friends for living quarters, and fell into chronic depression. Eventually, in 1955 he was rescued from this rut by Luiz Telles, leader of the vocal group Quitandinha Serenaders, who took him to Porto Alegre in southern Brazil. In this provincial town João Gilberto blossomed musically. Next he spent eight months with his sister in Diamantina, Minas Gerais,^[2] where he sequestered himself and played day and night in a little bathroom (because of the improved acoustic), forging a personal style for voice and guitar that would come to be known as bossa nova. The first bossa nova song, titled "Bim-Bom", was written as Gilberto watched passing laundresses on the banks of the São Francisco River balance loads of clothes on their heads.

Just after this time Gilberto's father, upset by João's bizarre singing style and refusal to take "normal" work, committed him to a mental hospital. In a psychological interview there, Gilberto stared out the window and remarked, “Look at the wind depilating the trees.” The psychologist replied, “But trees have no hair, João,” to which Gilberto responded, “And there are people who have no poetry.” He was released after a week. The next year (1956) he returned to Rio and struck up old acquaintances, most significantly Antonio Carlos Jobim, who was by then working as a composer, producer and arranger with Odeon Records. Jobim was impressed with Gilberto's new style of guitar playing, and set about finding a suitable song to pitch the style to Odeon management.

Bossa nova ("new style") is a refined version of samba, de-emphasizing the percussive aspect of its rhythm and enriching the melodic and harmonic content. Rather than relying on the traditional Afro-Brazilian percussive instruments, João Gilberto often eschews all accompaniment except his guitar, which he uses as a percussive as well as a harmonic instrument, incorporating the parts of different samba percussion instruments such as the tamborim and the surdo from a full batucada band. The singing style he developed is almost whispering, economical, and without vibrato. He creates his tempo tensions by singing ahead or behind the beat.

This style, which Gilberto introduced in 1957, created a sensation in the musical circles of Rio's Zona Sul, and many young guitarists sought to imitate it. It was first heard on record in 1958 in a recording of "Chega de Saudade", a song by Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes. Gilberto had first accompanied singer Elizeth Cardoso as her guitarist in a recording of this song, explaining his vision for the new style, but Cardoso would have none of his singing advice and sung it in the standard way. But shortly after this recording, João Gilberto made his own debut single of the same song, in the new style, followed by the 1959 LP, Chega de Saudade. The song () turned into a hit, launching Gilberto's career and the bossa nova craze. Besides a number of Jobim compositions, the album featured older sambas and popular songs from the 1940s and 1950s, all performed in Gilberto's distinctive style. This album was followed by two more in 1960 and 1961, by which time the singer featured new songs by a younger generation of performer/composers such as Carlos Lyra and Roberto Menescal.

By 1962, bossa nova had been embraced by North American jazz musicians such as Herbie Mann, Charlie Byrd, and Stan Getz, who invited Gilberto and Jobim to collaborate on what became one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time, Getz/Gilberto. Through this album, Gilberto's then wife Astrud -- who had never sung professionally prior to this recording session^[3] -- became an international star, and the Jobim/de Moraes composition "The Girl from Ipanema" became a worldwide pop music standard.

João Gilberto lived in the United States from 1962 until 1969, when he moved to Mexico for two years. There he recorded João Gilberto en México (1970). João Gilberto, aka the "White Album" (1973), featured hypnotic minimalist execution, limited to the singer, his guitar, and Sonny Carr on drums. 1976 saw the release of The Best of Two Worlds, a reunion with Stan Getz, featuring singer Miúcha, (sister of Chico Buarque), who had become Gilberto's second wife in April 1965. Amoroso (1977) backed Gilberto with the lush string orchestration of Claus Ogerman, who had provided a similar sound to Jobim's instrumental recordings in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As had been the case for all of Gilberto's albums, the album consisted mostly of Jobim compositions, mixed with older sambas and an occasional North American standard from the 1940s.

João Gilberto returned to Brazil in 1980. The following year saw the release of Brasil, with guests Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, who in the late 1960s had founded the Tropicalia movement, a fusion of Brazilian popular music with foreign pop. The 1991 release João, with orchestrations by Clare Fischer, was unusual in its lack of even a single Jobim composition, instead featuring songs in English, French, Italian, and Spanish, plus old sambas and the solitary contemporary song "Sampa" (Caetano Veloso). Also released in 1991 was the album Canto do Pajé by Veloso's sister Maria Bethânia, on which Bethânia and Gilberto sing an intimate medley of "Maria" (Ary Barroso/Luiz Peixoto) and "Linda Flor"' (Henrique Vogeler/Luiz Peixoto/Marques Pôrto), accompanied solely by his guitar. João Voz e Violão (2000) was an homage to the music of Gilberto's youth as well as a nod to producer Caetano Veloso.

Evenly interspersed with these studio recordings have been the live recordings Live in Montreux; João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira; Eu Sei Que Vou Te Amar; Live at Umbria Jazz; and Live in Tokyo.

While all of Gilberto's albums since Getz/Gilberto have been released on CD, the first three domestic albums were released in 1988 by EMI on a single CD entitled The Legendary João Gilberto: The Original Bossa Nova Recordings (1958–1961). The disc also included three tracks from the singer's 1959 Orfeu Negro EP: "Manhã de Carnaval," O Nosso Amor, and A Felicidade, the latter two merged into a single medley track to fit within the recording time of a CD. After its release, Gilberto successfully sued to have the title removed from sale as an unauthorized release of his artistic works.

João Gilberto has long had a reputation as an artist who values his privacy. He lives in an apartment in Leblon, Rio de Janeiro, refusing interviews and avoiding crowds. He also has high standards for acoustics and noise control. He has been known to walk out on performances in response to audiences that interfere with the music by creating inappropriate noise, or out of theaters possessing poor acoustics; on several occasions he requested that the air conditioning be turned off at concert venues. During a recording session of the song "Rosa Morena" Gilberto insisted on 28 takes to get the pronunciation of the 'O' in "Rosa" just right.

He continues to perform, very occasionally, to sell-out crowds in Brazil as well as in Europe, North America, and Japan. His planned public performances in Madrid (2009) and New York (2010) were cancelled at short notice. He is the father of singer Bebel Gilberto (Isabel), via his marriage to Miúcha.

In 1997, João sued record label EMI over a reissuing of several of his early works which he contended were poorly remastered. According to The New York Times, "A statement by his lawyer at the time declared that the reissues contained sound effects that 'did not pertain to the original recordings, banalizing the work of a great artist.'" Following the incident, EMI ceased to manufacture the albums in question, and, as of 2008, the lawsuit is yet to reach a decision.

Eviction[link]

In January 2011, Gilberto was notified by the State Court to leave his apartment in Leblon, Rio de Janeiro, where he has lived for fifteen years. According to the property owner's lawyer Paulo Roberto Moreira Mendes, the property belongs to Georgina Brandolini d'Adda, who criticizes the eccentric behavior of the musician.^{[citation needed]}

Discography[link]

• 1951: Quando Você Recordar/Amar é Bom
• 1951: Anjo Crue/Sem Elal
• 1952: Quando Ela Sai/Meia Luz
• 1958: Chega de Saudade/Bim Bom
• 1958: Desafinado/Hô-bá-lá-lá
• 1959: Chega de Saudade
• 1960: O Amor, o Sorriso e a Flor
• 1961: João Gilberto
• 1961: Brazil's Brilliant João Gilberto
• 1962: João Gilberto Cantando as Musicás do Filme Orfeo do Carnaval
• 1962: Boss of Bossa Nova
• 1962: Bossa Nova at Carnegie Hall
• 1963: The Warm World of João Gilberto
• 1964: Getz/Gilberto
• 1965: Herbie Mann & João Gilberto with Antonio Carlos Jobim
• 1966: Getz/Gilberto Vol. 2
• 1970: João Gilberto en Mexico
• 1973: João Gilberto
• 1976: The Best of Two Worlds
• 1977: Amoroso
• 1977: Gilberto and Jobim
• 1980: João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira
• 1981: Brasil
• 1985: Interpreta Tom Jobim
• 1985: Meditação
• 1986: Live in Montreux
• 1987: Live in Montreux
• 1988: O Mito
• 1990: Stan Getz meets João & Astrud Gilberto
• 1991: João
• 1994: Eu Sei que Vou Te Amar
• 2000: João Voz e Violão
• 2002: Live at Umbria Jazz
• 2004: In Tokyo

-João Gilberto's first five records released from 1951-1958 were all 78 rpm single editions.

-The album João Gilberto released in 1970 is the same version as João Gilberto en Mexico in the same year but by different record companies.

-Live in Montreux from 1987 is the same version as the one released in 1986. The version in 1986 was released in Brasil whereas the 1987 one was released in USA. Both were recorded live.

References[link]

• [3], "João Gilberto's Pioneering Bossa Nova Records Are Caught In a Legal Limbo" by The New York Times
• [4], "The Man Who Invented Bossa Nova" by Daniella Thompson

Sources[link]

• Castro, Ruy (trans. by Lysa Salsbury). "Bossa Nova: The Story of the Brazilian Music That Seduced the World." 2000. 1st English language edition. A Capella Books, an imprint of Chicago Review Press, Inc. ISBN 1-55652-409-9 First published in Brasil by Companhia das Letras. 1990.
• McGowan, Chris and Pessanha, Ricardo. "The Brazilian Sound: Samba, Bossa Nova and the Popular Music of Brazil." 1998. 2nd edition. Temple University Press. ISBN 1-56639-545-3
• Gridley, Mark. Jazz Styles: History and Analysis. 9th. NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, Print.

External links[link]

• Plain João—The Man Who Invented Bossa Nova, a biographical profile by Daniella Thompson
• João Gilberto Discography by Laura Pelner McCarthy
• João Gilberto Discography by SomBras (meanwhile a dead link)
• Nos bastidores do legendario concerto da bossa nova 1962
• The Brazilian Sound: Brazilian Music & Culture Website
• Bossa Nova Guitar Transcriptions (Mostly of songs performed by João Gilberto)
• João Gilberto Discography on Slipcue.com
• Joao Gilberto: The Early Records a special on Gilberto at the blog Worlds of Wanwood

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]