Dave Brubeck

This video discusses Dave Brubeck, who lived from 1920 until 2012. He was a pianist and composer that studied classical composition. Perhaps his major contribution to jazz was his compositions that used unusual time signatures. We'll be talking about what that means soon.

For the portion of his career where his greatest contribution to jazz came, Brubeck lead a quartet that included alto saxophonist Paul Desmond. The two musicians were a great match for one another. Brubeck's playing style was a bit more heavy than most cool jazz soloists, but Brubeck contributed a great deal through his compositions.

Desmond had a beautiful, lyrical, pure sound. Some compared it to the sound of a "dry martini." His playing style is the epitome of the Cool jazz era. This group was very popular among young listeners in the late '50s and early 1960s. It was one of the first groups to play college campuses and got jazz festivals at college going.

As I mentioned, the group experimented with songs and odd meters. These are measures with three beats per measure or five per measure, or nine per measure. The first album that did this was called Time Out, and it was the first jazz album to sell a million copies-- very popular.

We're going to listen to portions of two songs from Time Out, first "Blue Rondo a la Turk," which is mostly a nine beats per measure; and then "Take Five", which is in five beats per measure. So we'll start with "Blue Rondo a la Turk." The "a la Turk" part of the title refers to the Turkish rhythms that Brubeck incorporated after a visit to Turkey. He was fascinated with a kind of indigenous, native Turkish rhythm that grouped notes in nine, even eighth notes in groups of nine. And most of the time, this was done in 2, 2, 2, and 3, totaling 9.

So we have 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3. So it goes at a little faster tempo. And that sounds like this:

It's kind of tricky to count along at that speed. And that's the speed that you'll hear it in the record-- 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3. Turkish musicians used that all the time. They were very comfortable in that rhythmic framework.

So that's the "a la Turk" part of the title. The "Blue" part refers the blues form. And that's good old American 4/4 blues form, swinging eighth note jazz, and that's incorporated in and out of the Turkish rhythms. When we get to the middle of the song and we get to Desmond's improvisation, we'll hear that the music goes to this 4/4 swing eighth time with the walking base for that-- quite a period of time.

So let's listen to the opening of "Blue Rondo A la Turk." It features Brubeck playing on the piano. And then Desmond joins in with his beautiful sound about halfway through the melody:

[MUSIC PLAYING: "BLUE RONDO A LA TURK" (r. 1959) :00-:22]

You might have noticed when Desmond joined in that he played with a very pure sound, with a very smooth lyrical sound. Our next clip lets you hear that in more detail. There's a great deal going on in this next clip. At the start, you'll hear some changing between the Turkish rhythmic feel and the swing eighth notes of 4/4 jazz.

Then, Desmond plays a lyrical solo over the blues form. He uses a few blues-like ideas, but the inflections are rather mild, when compared to Hard Bop players. And Desmond leaves generous amounts of space between his ideas. Let's listen:

[MUSIC PLAYING: "BLUE RONDO A LA TURK" (r. 1959) 2:06-2:35]

So you might have noticed, when we got to the section that featured the swing rhythm with Desmond playing the improvised solo, that there was no piano comping whatsoever. Dave Brubeck was not playing, even though he's the leader of the record. So that gives that section a real Cool sound like we talked about in certain sections of Cool jazz where there's no comping whatsoever.

"Take Five" is the relatively famous single from the Time Out album. And "Take Five" is one of the selections on our deep listening course one on Cerego. We've already talked about some ways to recognize the song, including the sound of Paul Desmond and the unusual organization of the beats in groups of five. That's what the title implies. So we have five beats over and over.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. And that figure in the piano repeats over and over, and it's very catchy. And I'm sure it's part of what attracted a lot of listeners to "Take Five."

The recording starts with the drums, and then the piano enters. And then we have the bass enter with the alto saxophone playing the melody. Let's listen to that portion of the song:

[MUSIC PLAYING: "TAKE FIVE" (r. 1959) :00-:25]

You might want to listen to that excerpt again and just count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 along with it.

Paul Desmond's important contribution to "Take Five" in the Brubeck's Quartet is his sound. Here's the last portion of the composed melody, then a bit of Desmond's improvisation, where he uses long note values and spaces between ideas and motives. This is characteristic, of course, of the Cool Jazz era.

[MUSIC PLAYING: "TAKE FIVE" (r. 1959) :00-:30]

Here's the improvisation:

[MUSIC PLAYING: "TAKE FIVE" (r. 1959) :50-1:50]

There's many times in that solo where Desmond discusses the same motive over and over, much like we heard Sonny Rollins do. And he plays it with that beautiful sound of the "dry martini." The drummer, Joe Morello, plays a solo later on in this piece over that same repeated piano figure.

And there's a great deal of rhythmic interest that goes on when he solos over that grouping of five. And that's something that almost takes this song a little bit out of the Cool era. That's something to anticipate, if you listen to the entire recording.

Dave Brubeck was on the cover of Time Magazine in 1954 demonstrating his popularity across the country. He was a little disappointed about that, because he made it on the cover of Time Magazine before Duke Ellington, who was Brubeck's hero. Brubeck was on tour with Ellington at the time, and actually Duke Ellington delivered Brubeck the copy of that Time Magazine, and Brubeck was heartbroken. But never fear, it worked out well, because Ellington got to the cover of Time Magazine two years later, in 1956.

So to wrap up about Dave Brubeck: he wrote compositions in odd meters, particularly on the popular album Time Out. Paul Desmond's lyrical, pure alto saxophone sound contributed greatly to the music's relaxed character, and helped secure the group's place as a leading band of the Cool era. Next, we'll talk about trumpeter and vocalist Chet Baker.