{"id":4773,"date":"2013-05-25T00:14:14","date_gmt":"2013-05-25T07:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=4773"},"modified":"2013-05-25T00:27:27","modified_gmt":"2013-05-25T07:27:27","slug":"stompin-for-mili","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2013\/05\/stompin-for-mili\/","title":{"rendered":"Stompin&#8217; For Mili"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Thanks to <em>Rifftides<\/em> reader John Bolger for his timely alert to a rare opportunity to see a film tied to an important recording by the Dave Brubeck Quartet in the band\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s third year. Timely? Yes, because the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2013\/05\/a-dave-brubeck-memorial-service.html\"target=\"_blank\">Brubeck memorial service<\/a> in New York was so recent and because the Memorial Day weekend is the 36th anniversary of Paul\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Brubeck_Time.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Brubeck_Time.jpg\" alt=\"Brubeck_Time\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-4774\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Brubeck_Time.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Brubeck_Time-70x70.jpg 70w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Brubeck_Time-110x110.jpg 110w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>The album was <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Brubeck-Time-Reis-Dave\/dp\/B00000DFSF\/?_encoding=UTF8&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=9325&#038;linkCode=ur2&#038;qid=1334983875&#038;s=music&#038;sr=1-1&#038;tag=rifftidougram-20\"target=\"_blank\">Brubeck Time<\/a><\/em>. The film is <em>Stompin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 For Mili<\/em>, made by the photographer Gjon Mili at the October 12 and 13, 1954, recording sessions in the storied CBS 30th Street Studio in New York. In a letter to producer George Avakian, used in the album\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s liner notes, Brubeck described the making of the recording\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most famous piece:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8216;I would like,&#8217; said Gjon, closing his eyes and raising his hand expressively, &#8216;I would like to see Audrey Hepburn come walking through the woods.&#8217; &#8216;Gee,&#8217; said Paul wistfully, &#8216;So would I.&#8217; &#8216;One,&#8217; I said, noticing the glazed expression about Paul&#8217;s eyes &#8216;two, three, four.&#8217; And we played it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Stompin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 For Mili,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is the second take of an improvisation on the chords of George Gershwin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh, Lady Be Good.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d When Mili spoke derisively of the first take, it aroused Brubeck\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cowboy temper and he angrily stomped off the time for take two. In the letter, he described his reaction as an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153expression of rage and frustration\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that accounted for his directing at Mili a quote from \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Thank You for a Lovely Evening.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>The sound track of the film is simultaneous with the recording of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Audrey\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Stompin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 For Mili\u00e2\u20ac\u009d on the album. <\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/54957629\" width=\"440\" height=\"355\" frameborder=\"0\" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen><\/iframe><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><p>The film was posted on Vimeo by the filmmaker Brandon Bloch, whose grandfather, Joe Dodge, was the drummer in the Brubeck quartet from 1951 to 1956. The bassist in the film and on <em>Brubeck Time<\/em> was Bob Bates. <\/p>\n<p>Here is an addendum to the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Audrey\u00e2\u20ac\u009d story from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/take-five\"target=\"_blank\"><em>Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Paul never met Audrey Hepburn, though he came close many times that summer of 1954. In the Jean Giraudeaux play <em>Ondine<\/em>, she was an underwater nymph who fell in love with a knight. She won a Tony award for her work in the title role. <em>Ondine<\/em> played at the 46th Street Theatre, not far from Basin Street.<\/p>\n<p><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Paul would look at his watch the whole time we were playing at Basin Street,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Brubeck told me. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He knew when she would walk out the stage door and get in her limousine, and he wanted to be standing there. So, when I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d see him watching the time, I knew I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d better take a quick intermission or I was going to have problems with Paul. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d put his horn down, and out the door he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d go, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d run down just to stand and watch her leave.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Paul told me that,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I said to Brubeck, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153and I asked him, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWhat did you say to her? And he looked surprised and said, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcNothing. Are you kidding?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><p><em>Brubeck Time<\/em> became a big seller and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Audrey\u00e2\u20ac\u009d one of Desmond\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most beloved works. The recording<a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Des-head.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Des-head.jpg\" alt=\"Des head\" width=\"120\" height=\"91\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-4775\" \/><\/a> associated his name with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Audrey-Hepburn.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Audrey-Hepburn.jpg\" alt=\"Audrey Hepburn\" width=\"120\" height=\"129\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-4776\" \/><\/a>Hepburn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, but he died twenty-three years later never having imagined that she knew who he was or that she had heard the piece.  After Hepburn died in 1993, the United Nations honored her for her international work with children. Her husband, Andrea Dotti, asked Brubeck and his Quartet to play \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Audrey\u00e2\u20ac\u009d at the memorial service at UN headquarters in New York.<\/p>\n<p><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I told him,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Brubeck said,  \u00e2\u20ac\u0153that I had no idea he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be aware of \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcAudrey.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 He said, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcMy wife listened to it every night before she went to bed, and if she was walking through the garden, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d listen to it on earphones.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Paul never knew,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Iola Brubeck said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And he was so in love with Audrey.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><p>A year or so earlier, Hepburn herself acknowledged what &#8220;Audrey&#8221; meant to her. The publicist and author Peter Levinson sent the actress a copy of <em>Brubeck Time<\/em> when the album was first reissued as a compact disc. She responded with a hand-written note.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>19 March &#8217;92<\/p>\n<p>Dear Peter,<br \/>\n        Thank you for such a lovely gift\u00e2\u20ac\u201dI am thrilled to have the Brubeck C.D. with &#8216;My Song,&#8217; the ultimate compliment. You letter is so lovely, and I am most grateful for all your kindness.<\/p>\n<p> Warmest Wishes,<br \/>\n Audrey Hepburn<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\tAt the United Nations ceremony, Brubeck\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new alto saxophonist, Bobby Militello, played Desmond\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s solo note for note, inflection for inflection. He had memorized it when he was a boy. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thanks to Rifftides reader John Bolger for his timely alert to a rare opportunity to see a film tied to an important recording by the Dave Brubeck Quartet in the band\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s third year. Timely? Yes, because the Brubeck memorial service in New York was so recent and because the Memorial Day weekend is the 36th [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4773","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4773\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}