Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Dave Brubeck, Who Helped Put Jazz Back in Vogue, Dies at 91

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 84 posts

Re: Dave Brubeck, Who Helped Put Jazz Back in Vogue, Dies at 91

#51

Post by Perceval »

surement wrote: post #38
scrumper wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Time Out is a pretty unique jazz album that's often overlooked. Most jazz, like rock, is in 4/4 time (with the odd waltz-time tune to liven it up.) Not good enough for Dave Brubeck: Time Out has all kinds of weird compound time stuff going on. Take Five is in 5/4, which gives it its unusual vibe; Three to Get Ready gives you two bars of 3/4 and two of 4/4, alternating (which to me it feels a bit like a car on the ver…

Or The Mars Volta, or Cinematic Orchestra, or the Mission Impossible theme. Anyway, Time Out is great, but it is anything but overlooked.

The Mission Impossible theme was done by Argentinian jazz/bossa nova composer Lalo Schifrin.

Re: Dave Brubeck, Who Helped Put Jazz Back in Vogue, Dies at 91

#52

Post by lelf »

scrumper wrote: post #28
ChuckMcM wrote: post #4

I learned of Dave's music when I tracked down the theme song used in "The Secret Life of Machines" (which was "Take Five"). I bought his album "Time out" that had that song on it and really enjoyed it. Then bought the Christmas Album. Sad to hear he has died, but glad he chose to share his music with us.

Time Out is a pretty unique jazz album that's often overlooked. Most jazz, like rock, is in 4/4 time (with the odd waltz-time tune to liven it up.) Not good enough for Dave Brubeck: Time Out has all kinds of weird compound time stuff going on. Take Five is in 5/4, which gives it its unusual vibe; Three to Get Ready gives you two bars of 3/4 and two of 4/4, alternating (which to me it feels a bit like a car on the ver…

Here you go http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_musical_works_in_unusua...

Re: Dave Brubeck, Who Helped Put Jazz Back in Vogue, Dies at 91

#53

Post by officemonkey »

leothekim wrote: post #22

Dave Brubeck took a stand against racism and would refuse to play in segregated venues. He turned down offers to perform in South Africa because of ordinances that prohibited racially mixed groups. He apparently started one the first racially integrated bands in the U.S. army during WW II. We lost a musical genius and a good human being.

Benny Goodman was the first Bandleader that integrated his orchestra and small groups in the 1930s. Goodman's quartet feathered Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton.

I'm not saying Brubeck didn't do it, but he certainly wasn't the first.

Re: Dave Brubeck, Who Helped Put Jazz Back in Vogue, Dies at 91

#54

Post by DigitalSea »

kylebgorman wrote: post #27
leothekim wrote: post #22

Dave Brubeck took a stand against racism and would refuse to play in segregated venues. He turned down offers to perform in South Africa because of ordinances that prohibited racially mixed groups. He apparently started one the first racially integrated bands in the U.S. army during WW II. We lost a musical genius and a good human being.

Brubeck's career benefitted MASSIVELY from being white (ish: he was of mixed ancestry), a fact he was himself quite ashamed of.

Sadly you're right. The world was a bad place back then, extraordinarily decent people living in an indecent society. I like to think Brubeck amongst others contributed to the demise of segregation and the basis of our modern integrated society. He was an exceptional jazz musician and an all round great guy who was very grateful for what he had. There's no such thing these days as a real musician, Dave was part of a dying breed of people who got into music because they love what they do, not because they want to be famous or rich like modern day musicians.

Re: Dave Brubeck, Who Helped Put Jazz Back in Vogue, Dies at 91

#55

Post by officemonkey »

TylerE wrote: post #19
tsm wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's two factors here. One is that bebop--the previous ruling jazz style--faded considerably during WWII, and was also dominated by black culture. Brubeck brought jazz back into style, and also--as you noted--made it less of a racial issue. The previous white jazz was big band swing, which had its heyday in the '20s and was long gone by Brubeck's day.

You're a bit off in your chronology. Swing was big up through the late 40s - Glenn Miller and Duke Ellington dominated the charts. Bebop didn't really take over until the post war years.

Bebop was created in NYC clubs during WWII during club dates that occurred during the recording strikes and shellac shortages.

Bebop didn't get commercial play until soldiers came home and heard the new sounds put down by Bird, Diz, and Monk.

In many ways, bebop and jump blues filled the gap between the two "music for dancing": swing and rock and roll.

Re: Dave Brubeck, Who Helped Put Jazz Back in Vogue, Dies at 91

#56

Post by officemonkey »

dreadsword wrote: post #3

Dave Brubeck was awesome. Glad to hear that he lived to a ripe old age. I don't know much about him, but I hope his years were as fun, energetic, and awesome as his music.

I saw him in 2000 when he was 80 and he was in command of all his chops. I am grateful I saw so many giants before the passed.

Re: Dave Brubeck, Who Helped Put Jazz Back in Vogue, Dies at 91

#57

Post by SoftwareMaven »

DigitalSea wrote: post #54
kylebgorman wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brubeck's career benefitted MASSIVELY from being white (ish: he was of mixed ancestry), a fact he was himself quite ashamed of.

Sadly you're right. The world was a bad place back then, extraordinarily decent people living in an indecent society. I like to think Brubeck amongst others contributed to the demise of segregation and the basis of our modern integrated society. He was an exceptional jazz musician and an all round great guy who was very grateful for what he had. There's no such thing these days as a real musician, Dave was part of a…

I disagree completely. I wouldn't have had a clue who Dave Brubeck was, if it wasn't for my son, who is a musician in the classical sense through and through. He has no illusions that his Jazz horn is going to make him rich. He does it because he loves it, and I know he's not alone.

Re: Dave Brubeck, Who Helped Put Jazz Back in Vogue, Dies at 91

#58

Post by twstws »

DigitalSea wrote: post #54
kylebgorman wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brubeck's career benefitted MASSIVELY from being white (ish: he was of mixed ancestry), a fact he was himself quite ashamed of.

Sadly you're right. The world was a bad place back then, extraordinarily decent people living in an indecent society. I like to think Brubeck amongst others contributed to the demise of segregation and the basis of our modern integrated society. He was an exceptional jazz musician and an all round great guy who was very grateful for what he had. There's no such thing these days as a real musician, Dave was part of a…

> There's no such thing these days as a real musician, Dave was part of a dying breed of people who got into music because they love what they do, not because they want to be famous or rich like modern day musicians.

I think that says more about you than the state of modern musicians. There will always be 'real musicians', motivated by their love of the art. Whether or not we can find them depends on how willing we are to dig past the shallow acts that top the charts.

Re: Dave Brubeck, Who Helped Put Jazz Back in Vogue, Dies at 91

#59

Post by DigitalSea »

SoftwareMaven wrote: post #57
DigitalSea wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly you're right. The world was a bad place back then, extraordinarily decent people living in an indecent society. I like to think Brubeck amongst others contributed to the demise of segregation and the basis of our modern integrated society. He was an exceptional jazz musician and an all round great guy who was very grateful for what he had. There's no such thing these days as a real musician, Dave was part of a…

I disagree completely. I wouldn't have had a clue who Dave Brubeck was, if it wasn't for my son, who is a musician in the classical sense through and through. He has no illusions that his Jazz horn is going to make him rich. He does it because he loves it, and I know he's not alone.

My comment was taken out of context. My point was most musicians who get to the top of the charts these days take what they have for granted, it's all a show and they aren't real musicians. Of course there will always be people like your son who do what they do because they love music, not because they have hopes of being famous. Don't be confused, I wasn't refering to everyone who plays an instrument, just those considered to have "made it".

Re: Dave Brubeck, Who Helped Put Jazz Back in Vogue, Dies at 91

#60

Post by a5seo »

jackfoxy wrote: post #45

KCSM.org is playing a lot of Brubeck today...pieces I never heard before. Tomorrow's morning (Pacific time) show will be devoted to Brubeck. UPDATE: the show starting at 5PM pacific time today will also be devoted to Dave

God I miss turning on the radio to hear KCSM now that I live in Austin. I programmed years of my life away listening to that station in a crappy rented room in Sunnyvale after college, and loved every bit of it.

So grateful they're streaming online. I still donate.

If you live in the Bay Area and don't see a show at Yoshi's, you definitely owe it to yourself...

Post reply on HN