Wednesday, December 6, 2006

Happy Birthday, Dave

Dave Brubeck was one of my first introductions to jazz. Talk about doing it the hard way. But the thing I first loved about him, and still do, is that he can do stuff with chord structure like no one else. I can listen to him over and over as he cranks out "Sweet Georgia Brown" just for grins and giggles, and still not be able to unpack exactly what he's doing.

In honor of his 86th birthday, here's the Paul Desmond tune that's pretty much his signature. It features very little of Brubeck, alas, (and, of course, it looks like a meeting of a small accounting firm), but it's a classic.



Meantime, YouTubers, let's get cracking. By next December I want to find decent clips of "Koto Song," "Unfinished Woman," and--would it kill you?--"Blues for Newport."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting the YouTube clip. While I'm not a huge jazz fan --John Lennon once said of jazz "it doesn't go anywhere"-- I love Dave Brubeck. And Paul Desmond. He (and his successor) coax a sound from the sax unlike any other in jazz.

Again, thanks. I think I'll go put a couple of Brubeck CD's on right now.