Dave Brubeck was an American jazz pianist and composer who died in 2012 with a net worth of $15 million. Dave Brubeck is regarded as one of the forefathers of the cool jazz genre. He was well-known for his use of strange time signatures and opposing rhythms in his music, which can be heard on his most popular album, “Time Out.”
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, he recorded numerous records with the Dave Brubeck Quartet and traversed the world on behalf of the United States Department of State, performing jazz music in Europe and Asia. Among his many honors are the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and his appearance on the cover of “Time” magazine in 1954.
Who is Dave Brubeck?
Dave Brubeck was born in Concord, California on December 6, 1920, to Peter and Elizabeth Brubeck. His father was a cattle rancher, while his mother was a piano teacher. Brubeck began taking piano lessons from his mother at a young age, albeit he couldn’t read music during his early lessons due to his weak eyesight.
His incapacity to read music went overlooked for a long time since he had a natural skill to perform music. Brubeck intended to work as a veterinarian on his father’s ranch. In 1938, he enrolled in the College of the Pacific in Stockton, California, to study veterinary science.
However, it became evident to him over time that he was far more interested in music, and he finally changed his major to music. He was nearly dismissed from school after it was discovered that he couldn’t sight-read music. However, a few instructors defended him, claiming that he has outstanding ability in counterpoint and harmony. He was permitted to finish his degree but had to vow never to teach piano again.
Brubeck was recruited into the United States Army after obtaining his music degree in 1942. He was a member of George S. Patton’s Third Army in Europe. His exceptional musical aptitude was discovered when he offered to play piano at a Red Cross event, and he was spared military service. Brubeck then formed The Wolfpack, the United States military’s first racially integrated band.
Brubeck met another musician, Paul Desmond, at that time. After four years in the service, Brubeck returned to California to study as a graduate student at Mills College. During this period, he began working with Jack Sheedy and the Weiss brothers, who ran their own record label, Fantasy Records.
How old is Dave Brubeck?
The retired singer is currently 91 years old.
What is Dave Brubeck career?
In the late 1940s, Brubeck released his first records on Fantasy Records. They were a big hit. In 1951, Brubeck formed the Dave Brubeck Quartet with Paul Desmond, whom he met while serving in the military. They released a number of live records, including “Jazz at the College of the Pacific” and “Jazz at Oberlin,” which were early instances of cool jazz.
Brubeck joined Columbia Records and released “Jazz Goes to College” in 1954. It quickly became popular, landing Brubeck on the cover of “Time” magazine in November of that year. The Dave Brubeck Quartet grew in popularity over the next few years. Eugene Wright, an African-American bassist, joined the band shortly before the group’s Department of State tour of Europe and Asia in 1958.
Following this, Wright became a permanent member of the group, and Brubeck was known to cancel gigs and appearances if he found that promoters or producers did not want Wright to appear onscreen or onstage because he was black. Brubeck worked tirelessly to level the playing field for African jazz musicians.
He believed that some of his success was undeserved, given that there were many equally or more gifted black artists who were not given the credit they deserved.
In 1959, the band released “Time Out.” The album went on to become Brubeck’s best-seller. Throughout the 1960s, he continued to release records. During its zenith in the early 1960s, the Brubeck Quartet released up to four albums each year. “Anything Goes” was their final studio album for Columbia Records, released in 1966. Later in his career, Brubeck recorded for Atlantic Records. His latter records would not be as successful as his earlier work, but he was still regarded as a musical genius and one of the pioneering figures in popularizing jazz music.
Brubeck garnered numerous prizes and distinctions throughout his career. He received the National Medal of Arts from the National Endowment for the Arts in the 1990s, was inducted into the DownBeat Hall of Fame, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He received an honorary Doctor of Sacred Theology degree from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland in 2004.
In 2007, he received the BBC Jazz Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2008, he received the Benjamin Franklin Award for Public Diplomacy. In 2009, he received the Kennedy Center Honors. He was named an honorary fellow of Westminster Choir College at Princeton University in 2011.
