dave brubeck

David Warren Brubeck

(born December 6, 1920)

This grand old man of jazz helped to establish the West Coast Cool that made jazz popular again after the second world war.

Musically trained from childhood by his mother, he hid the fact that he could not read music until it got him expelled from the conservatory. Professors came to his defense and he was allowed to graduate as long as he promised never to teach the piano. When he was drafted into the army he was ordered to put together a musical group after he volunteered to play piano at a Red Cross show. He formed "the Wolfpack", which was one of the army's first integrated bands.

After a swimming accident he formed his quartet with Paul Desmond on saxophone. In 1959 they released Time Out which featured non-traditional time signatures and became a million seller. Desmond composed the song that made the group a household name.





http://www.davebrubeck.com/