{"id":4291,"date":"2012-12-09T14:32:05","date_gmt":"2012-12-09T22:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=4291"},"modified":"2012-12-09T14:32:05","modified_gmt":"2012-12-09T22:32:05","slug":"brubeck-things-aint-what-they-used-to-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2012\/12\/brubeck-things-aint-what-they-used-to-be\/","title":{"rendered":"Brubeck: Things Ain’t What They Used To Be"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Dave Brubeck\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s passing, interesting bits of arcana about his life and music are rising to the surface. BBC Radio 4 replayed a portion of an interview from 2000 on the network\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Front Row<\/em> program with John Wilson. Brubeck tells Wilson about the role of vitamin B-6 in saving his hands and the unusual use of a bungee cord in his exercise routine. He illustrates polytonality \"\"<\/a>by playing a bit of Duke Ellington’s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Things Ain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t What They Used To Be\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in C and E-flat, simultaneously. To hear the six-minute conversation, go here<\/a> and move the timer slide at the bottom of the screen to :24:05. <\/p>\n

Then, see and hear an extended 1970 performance of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Things Ain’t What They Used To Be,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a blues staple in Brubeck\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s repertoire, with Gerry Mulligan, baritone saxophone; Jack Six, bass; Alan Dawson, drums. It runs so long that YouTube<\/em> had to present it in two installments. <\/p>\n