Dave Brubeck Dies

Brubeck on Time Cover, 1954

DAVE BRUBECK, the jazz composer and pianist whose song "Take Five" and album "Time Out" were among the biggest-selling and most well-known of all jazz recordings, died TODAY (12/5) of heart failure while en route to a cardiology appointment.  He would have turned 92 years old TOMORROW (12/6).

BRUBECK formed the DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET in 1951 from its beginnings in the 1940s as the DAVE BRUBECK OCTET and was one of the world's most well-known recording artists in the 1950s and early 1960s, noted for his use of unusual time signatures.  1959's "Time Out" included "Take Five" (written by QUARTET alto sax player and longtime BRUBECK collaborator PAUL DESMOND) and "Blue Rondo a la Turk," both now instantly-recognized classics of the genre.  He continued to perform well into his 80s and was a recipient of the KENNEDY CENTER Honors in 2009.

« see more Net News