Archives for December 2012

Dave Brubeck died this morning. He would have celebrated his 92nd birthday tomorrow. Russell Gloyd, Brubeck’s manager and conductor of the pianist and composer’s extended orchestral works, said that Brubeck suffered cardiac arrest. In fragile health for several years, he was being driven from his home in Wilton Connecticut to an appointment with his heart doctor in nearby Norwalk.

For a comprehensive obituary tracing the career that made Brubeck one of the few jazz artists to achieve mass popular acceptance, go to Ben Ratliff’s article in The New York Times.

Later, I will post thoughts about Dave during the 57 years of our acquaintance.

If you are yearning for Christmas music, it isn’t hard to find. Walk into a supermarket, park at a service station pump or step into an elevator. Whether the stuff piped into commercial establishments suits your taste is beside the point; they give you no choice. This weekend, Jim Wilke won’t give you a choice, either, but considering the proclivities of Rifftides readers, his selections are more likely to meet your criteria than those of the lowest-common-denominator marketers who program satellites and dentists’ offices. Here is Mr. Wilke’s illustrated announcement about his next Jazz Northwest. You may wish to mark your calendar.

SOME OF OUR FAVORITE THINGS ON JAZZ NORTHWEST, DECEMBER 9, 2012

Jim Wilke shares some of his favorite CDs for the holidays by Northwest jazz musicians who’ve appeared often on the program…. Don Lanphere, The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, Ernestine Anderson, Dave Peck, Greta Matassa, Barney McClure and others. Listen to this December celebration featuring some our favorite musicians playing holiday music and support Jazz Northwest, Sunday afternoons at 2 Pacific Time on 88.5, KPLU and kplu.org.

The cover on the original issue of Lanphere’s 1989 Christmas album showed him playing his horn (above left). The new one suits the season. The album is one of the late saxophonist’s finest.

The vacation is over. I’m getting back into some kind of routine, if not yet what could be called a groove. Before that happens, I’m hitting the road again to spend a bit of time with my brother, who is less than well. In the meantime, here’s a followup to a post that attracted considerable comment.

The item about Paul Desmond’s 88th birthday included a link to a track called “Pilgrim’s Progress” from a 1956 Dave Brubeck Quartet concert recording. The piece is a close relative of “Audrey,” “Balcony Rock” and several other DBQ blues performances. Rifftides reader and frequent commenter Terence Smith pointed us to a fairly recent Brubeck solo with the same harmonic approach and mood. It’s from a 2003 Clint Eastwood film called Piano Blues in which Eastwood presents several pianists including Ray Charles, Jay McShann, Otis Spann, Pete Jolly and Dr. John, as well as film of Nat Cole, Art Tatum, Duke Ellington and others. In the course of the program, Eastwood sits at the piano to chat with his guests and listens to them play. Here is part of the Brubeck segment.

Brubeck will be 92 on December 6.