Brubecks Play Brubeck

Label: Gathering Forces
Year: 2011
Released on LP: No
Released on CD: Yes

Tracks

1. Blue Rondo A La Turk
2. Three To Get Ready
3. Koto Song
4. It's A Raggy Waltz
5. The Lion at the Bar
6. Strange Meadowlark
7. The Golden Horn
8. Take Five
9. Unsquare Dance

Notes

Notes from CD Baby

BRUBECKS PLAY BRUBECK features the repertoire and rhythms of the famous Dave Brubeck Quartet but, as John Fordham wrote in the Guardian, “sheltering under the Brubeck umbrella is by no means all the maestro’s offspring do”.

Darius, the eldest Brubeck son is a pianist, composer and academic, now based in the UK with his own Quartet. Chris is known as a composer of symphonic works performed by leading orchestras around the world and also excels as a bass and trombone player in jazz, rock and folk music. Together, Chris and Dan form the nucleus of their US group, The Brubeck Brothers Quartet. Dan also leads his own band in Vancouver and is a Grammy-nominated percussionist with past credits that range from Gerry Mulligan to Larry Coryell. British sax star, Dave O’Higgins, regularly appears with the BBC Big Band and, as a leader of various groups, has a dozen albums to his credit.

In November, 2010, Britain was indeed the ‘winter wonderland’ quoted in Darius’ ‘Take Five’ solo; it was snow-bound from Newcastle to Eastbourne , but no gigs were cancelled and the group and audiences enjoyed the celebratory tour leading up to Dave Brubeck’s 90th birthday on December 6th. Selections chosen from many concerts are on this cd.

Musicians
Darius Brubeck, piano,
Chris Brubeck, bass & trombone
Dan Brubeck, drums
Dave O’Higgins, saxophones

Reviews

John Fordham The Guardian (UK)

Few jazz musicians make it into the pop charts, even fewer for instrumental music of such coolly labyrinthine grooves that audiences could barely shake a leg to it. California-born pianist and composer Dave Brubeck – who did all that in the 1950s and 60s, and whose 90th birthday is next week – is one of the great popularisers of jazz, a visionary who made it speak to millions without selling its audacious spirit down the river. He no longer plays internationally, but his musician sons Darius, Chris and Dan, augmented by British saxist Dave O'Higgins, are rekindling the old magic.

The four cantered affectionately through the hit list, but shrewdly didn't try to clone the original sound. Typically playful, time-juggling themes such as Raggy Waltz emphasised both their composer's far-sighted fusions of classical and jazz forms, and the current ensemble's own identity, particularly in drummer Dan's looser, splashier sound and electric bassist Chris's slippery and sometimes funk-influenced phrasing. And O'Higgins is a contemporary tenor and soprano player of keening soulfulness rather than an airy, fluttering alto saxist like the late Paul Desmond. But O'Higgins's edge brought a renewed poignancy to the dreamy Koto Song, and on Take Five his climax-building high-end multiphonics contrasted with Darius's steady enunciation of the famous 5/4 riff.

The pianist's Lion at the Bar, a boogieing groover that reflected Darius's playing and teaching experience in South Africa, reminded the audience that sheltering under the Brubeck umbrella is by no means all the maestro's offspring do.