In 1956 they got a major talent boost and a giant leap towards complexity in rhythm when a new drummer joined the group. Together with his musical partner and alto sax player Paul Desmond, they focused on arrangement and mood, excelling in both areas and becoming very popular with jazz audiences. Later that decade he occasionally applied it to his octet recordings, but as the 1950s came around and he adopted a small combo format, he settled into the accepted 4/4 and ¾ rhythms, playing standards and some original music. Back in the late 1940s while studying with Darius Milhaud, he was exposed to the concept in the context of classical music. Dave Brubeck Quartet, 1958īrubeck’s familiarity with odd time meters was not new. Five years later, with four albums exploring time signatures and millions of albums and singles sold, it is no wonder that he looked back at that moment favorably.
Willis James’ words gave him the confidence that he should persevere and continue what he started. They were expecting the typical fare of standards and show tunes arranged in a pleasant cool jazz style, not a set of experiments in rhythm. Columbia, Brubeck’s record label, was giving him a hard time about the material he recorded, miles away from the popular recordings he used to supply them thus far. Just before that Roundtable he recorded a number of sessions for his upcoming album and started to perform them before live audiences who found it a challenging listening experience. It didn’t hurt at all to have him defend me in public.” Time signatures of the odd flavor where top of mind for Dave Brubeck and his quartet in 1959.
He explained that if you go back to the field hollers, they go right back to Africa, and why shouldn’t I be doing what I’m doing, that it was in the tradition of Africa to play in complicated time signatures. Years later he still cherished that event: “That was my big moment of glory. It was in five-four time, and the Dave Brubeck Quartet is on the right track.”ĭave Brubeck was elated when he heard that endorsement. James follows: “That was an American work song. At the end of his performance he asks the audience ‘Can any of you tell me what time signature that was in?’ The audience, including notable musicians of that era, is silent. James is an authority of African folksongs and their connection to the tradition of jazz. Willis James is on the stage, demonstrating an African chant.
BRUBECK TAKE FIVE LIVE SERIES
The event is the Jazz Roundtable, a series of talks and discussions about music, founded by professor Marshall Stearns in the early 1950s. It is the summer of 1959, and jazz enthusiasts are gathered at the Music Inn, a music venue in the heart of the pastoral Berkshires region in Western Massachusetts.
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