Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program - Dave Brubeck

The Dave Brubeck recordings of oral histories of NEA Jazz Masters are part of the Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.

About the Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program

Established by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in 1992, the Program seized the opportunity to document more than one hundred senior jazz musicians, performers, relatives, and business associates. Each interview was conducted by a jazz authority and was recorded on digital audiotape by a professional audio engineer. The interviews average six hours in length and cover a wide range of topics including early years, initial involvement in music, generally, and jazz specifically, as well as experiences in the jazz music world, including relationships to musicians.

Click here for link - scroll down and find Dave Brubeck under "A-E".

The topics discussed by Dave include:

Clip 1
Dave Brubeck discusses meeting Stan Kenton for the first time

Clip 2
Dave Brubeck talks about playing at the Band Box club

Clip 3
Dave Brubeck describes the difficulty of getting a phone after WWII

Clip 4
Dave Brubeck discusses his move from Fantasy to Columbia Records

Clip 5
Dave Brubeck describes how Joe Morello joined his quartet

Clip 6
Dave Brubeck talks about the inspiration for Blue Rondo a la Turk

Clip 7
Dave Brubeck talks about when he told his parents of his ambitions to be a musician

Clip 8
Dave Brubeck describes when he performed for Mikhail Gorbachev