0:00:23 > 0:00:26PIANO MUSIC PLAYS
0:00:42 > 0:00:45HE PLAYS: "Blue Rondo a la Turk" by Dave Brubeck
0:01:05 > 0:01:09HE CONTINUES PLAYING: "Blue Rondo a la Turk" by Dave Brubeck
0:01:19 > 0:01:22I love that, I love that song.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25When Dave comes out and that applause goes up...
0:01:25 > 0:01:28APPLAUSE AND CHEERS
0:01:28 > 0:01:31..at this time in his life
0:01:31 > 0:01:37it is not only the dexterity, the thought, the improvisation...
0:01:37 > 0:01:43It is also the thank you, because that music
0:01:43 > 0:01:48is Dave doing what he loves to do and what he wants to do.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51HE PLAYS INTRO
0:02:08 > 0:02:10MUSIC: "Take Five" by Dave Brubeck
0:02:10 > 0:02:14APPLAUSE AND CHEERS
0:02:14 > 0:02:16MUSIC CONTINUES: "Take Five" by Dave Brubeck
0:02:24 > 0:02:29The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Brubeck, piano, Paul Desmond, alto saxophone,
0:02:29 > 0:02:32Joe Morello, drums, Eugene Wright, bass -
0:02:32 > 0:02:36became synonymous with modern jazz 60 years ago.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40Brubeck has been an ambassador for his music.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44He took it out of the rarefied circles of a musical elite
0:02:44 > 0:02:47and taught it to America and the rest of the world.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50His music has always had the utmost integrity,
0:02:50 > 0:02:53with daring experiments in harmony and time signatures.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56But it's always been accessible.
0:02:58 > 0:03:03His most famous piece, Take Five, written by saxophonist Paul Desmond,
0:03:03 > 0:03:06was in the Top 10 in every country that had a hit parade.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10MUSIC CONTINUES: "Take Five" by Dave Brubeck
0:03:19 > 0:03:21He became the first jazz musician
0:03:21 > 0:03:24to appear on the cover of Time Magazine.
0:03:24 > 0:03:2856 years on, he remains as committed to his music as ever.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31His band has been voted Best Jazz Group of 2010
0:03:31 > 0:03:36in the readers' poll in Downbeat, America's jazz bible.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40On December 6th he will be 90 years old.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29For me, music is everything.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33I do believe the icons you've grown up with that are huge...
0:04:33 > 0:04:37In the end everybody is just a person and they just live a regular life.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41Whatever contribution they've made gets put into the puzzle.
0:04:41 > 0:04:46It's always amazing to be able to put a bracket around people and say,
0:04:46 > 0:04:50"Here is somebody you should look at because this is somebody who's really special."
0:04:50 > 0:04:53MUSIC: "Unsquare Dance" by Dave Brubeck
0:05:11 > 0:05:14Dave, you are such an icon to so many of us.
0:05:14 > 0:05:20I have to ask you formally, you were born, weren't you?
0:05:20 > 0:05:22HE LAUGHS
0:05:22 > 0:05:241920.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26- 1920.- Yes.- By golly.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29You were a very youthful whatever you are at this point.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33- Thank you.- Where were you born?
0:05:33 > 0:05:36In Concord, California - near San Francisco.
0:05:36 > 0:05:41I do believe that people from northern California have a different bent
0:05:41 > 0:05:45than say southern Californians or New Yorkers. We're just... We are northern Californians.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49What was your family like, your parents?
0:05:49 > 0:05:52Oh, unbelievable.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55My father was
0:05:55 > 0:05:59a cattleman and a champion roper.
0:05:59 > 0:06:06In fact, he was number one at the big rodeos in California in the '20s.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10Dave Brubeck's musical inspirations were classical music,
0:06:10 > 0:06:14the beats from horse's hooves, and cowboy songs.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16Yeah!
0:06:17 > 0:06:21My mother was a piano teacher,
0:06:21 > 0:06:25and she wanted to be a great concert pianist.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28MUSIC: "Dziekuje" by Dave Brubeck
0:06:43 > 0:06:45And my father said to my mother,
0:06:45 > 0:06:50"Dave is my last chance. He's going to be a cattleman."
0:06:50 > 0:06:57And she said, "No, he has to go to college like his brothers."
0:06:57 > 0:07:00And he said, "Well, if he goes to college
0:07:00 > 0:07:04"he is going to study to be a veterinarian."
0:07:04 > 0:07:08So I went to school in Stockton, California,
0:07:08 > 0:07:11College of Pacific as a pre-med.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15And at the end of the first year,
0:07:15 > 0:07:20the zoology teacher said, "Brubeck, go across the lawn
0:07:20 > 0:07:25"to the conservatory because your mind is not in this lab."
0:07:25 > 0:07:30So the next year I went to the conservatory.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34MUSIC CONTINUES: "Dziekuje" by Dave Brubeck
0:08:02 > 0:08:04What did you want to be?
0:08:04 > 0:08:09Did you want to be a concert pianist as your mother was?
0:08:09 > 0:08:12No, I wanted to play jazz.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14That's what I wanted
0:08:14 > 0:08:19from the time I was very little, maybe six years old.
0:08:19 > 0:08:25I loved jazz, and I wouldn't practise classical piano.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28Was your mother upset that you were playing jazz
0:08:28 > 0:08:31and not going for concert piano?
0:08:31 > 0:08:34Oh, yeah, very upset.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36HE PLAYS
0:08:47 > 0:08:53And the way she finally got around to my thinking,
0:08:53 > 0:08:59she was in the car with me one day and Art Tatum was on the car radio.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03And he was God to all of us.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07HE PLAYS
0:09:14 > 0:09:17Dave Brubeck told a great story about Cleo Brown,
0:09:17 > 0:09:19- did you know Cleo Brown?- No.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21He said Cleo Brown turned him on to Art.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24And once he heard Art Tatum, of course,
0:09:24 > 0:09:29everyone else like Fats Waller and everybody said, "That's God right there"
0:09:29 > 0:09:30That's right, you got it.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32HE PLAYS
0:09:49 > 0:09:53And she turned to me and she said, "David,
0:09:53 > 0:09:58- "now I understand why you want to play jazz piano."- Really?
0:09:58 > 0:10:00And that turned it around a bit.
0:10:00 > 0:10:05By golly, from there on she was an enthusiast for your work.
0:10:05 > 0:10:10Yes, she followed me. Would come to the concerts.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12MUSIC: "Yesterdays" by Dave Brubeck
0:10:26 > 0:10:32Dave was a senior in college and I was a sophomore when we met.
0:10:32 > 0:10:39So we almost missed each other because we didn't go out until...
0:10:39 > 0:10:42I guess it was May,
0:10:42 > 0:10:46towards the end of the semester, wasn't it, of the last year.
0:10:46 > 0:10:52One of the first dates I ever took my wife out on, she was about 18,
0:10:52 > 0:10:57was to take her to a typical jazz club
0:10:57 > 0:11:04where we were the only so-called whites in the club.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08I wanted to show her my idea of heaven.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11It was this atmosphere that I loved,
0:11:11 > 0:11:13that I thought was the greatest joy on Earth.
0:11:13 > 0:11:20On our first date, I proposed marriage.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24- You remember?- Of course! - THEY LAUGH
0:11:24 > 0:11:29I thought, "Boy, here's a woman that understands me!"
0:11:29 > 0:11:34In the three hours on the first night,
0:11:34 > 0:11:37the first date we were together,
0:11:37 > 0:11:43we talked more about what her life and my life was going to be
0:11:43 > 0:11:48than I'd ever talked with a girl that I'd known for years.
0:11:48 > 0:11:54When that happens, you'd better go with the flow.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58We were married during World War II.
0:11:58 > 0:12:04By getting married when we did, Dave was in the army,
0:12:04 > 0:12:07I was still in school...
0:12:07 > 0:12:14And...I had just turned 19 at the time that we were married.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17And then we had a very short time together
0:12:17 > 0:12:19before Dave was shipped overseas.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23After I left college I had to go right into the army.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26They sent me to Fort MacArthur.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30- You went directly into the combat. - Yeah.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34You were in the European theatre or the Pacific?
0:12:34 > 0:12:37European, in Patton's army.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39In Patton's army!
0:12:39 > 0:12:43With him through France and into Germany.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45Oh, my goodness.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47And in the Bulge, which was...
0:12:47 > 0:12:49Yes, you were at the battle. OK. Wow!
0:12:49 > 0:12:52And here's when a lot of things happened to me,
0:12:52 > 0:12:58because there were some Red Cross girls
0:12:58 > 0:13:01came up in a truck
0:13:01 > 0:13:03with a big box on the back of the truck.
0:13:03 > 0:13:08The side of the box lowered down and it became a stage.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11There was a piano.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15They said, "Is there a piano player here? We'd like to sing."
0:13:15 > 0:13:20So I raised my hand and they said, "Come on up and play."
0:13:20 > 0:13:25So I played. The next morning we were supposed to go into battle.
0:13:25 > 0:13:30We were lined up and three names were called out.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34And that reason was
0:13:34 > 0:13:39the colonel in charge of the 17th Replacement Depot
0:13:39 > 0:13:44said, "I never want that soldier to go to the front.
0:13:44 > 0:13:49"I want him to stay here, I want to form a band."
0:13:49 > 0:13:53What kind of music did you play for the troops?
0:13:53 > 0:13:57Military stuff or jazz or...?
0:13:57 > 0:14:00Never any military stuff.
0:14:00 > 0:14:05One of the first things I wrote was We Cross The Rhine.
0:14:05 > 0:14:10We crossed at Remagen and as the trucks went down the bank
0:14:10 > 0:14:14and hit that bridge there was a certain rhythm.
0:14:14 > 0:14:20And I thought, "Boy, I'd like to capture that rhythm in music."
0:14:20 > 0:14:25And capture the feeling of crossing the Rhine.
0:14:25 > 0:14:31So that day I wrote the piece We Crossed The Rhine.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34And how did the words go to your melody?
0:14:34 > 0:14:39"We crossed the Rhine, the time was winter.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42"Why? The ground was frozen.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45"Why oh why were we chosen
0:14:45 > 0:14:47"to take this ground?"
0:14:47 > 0:14:50How long did you stay in Europe, then?
0:14:50 > 0:14:55Oh...till January '46.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57After the war.
0:14:57 > 0:15:03And I knew the semester in school
0:15:03 > 0:15:07had just started at Mills College, Oakland, California,
0:15:07 > 0:15:11where this great French composition teacher
0:15:11 > 0:15:14had told me after the war
0:15:14 > 0:15:18I could study with him. So through the GI Bill
0:15:18 > 0:15:23I was able to get a wonderful education.
0:15:23 > 0:15:28Darius Milhaud was one of the foremost French composers
0:15:28 > 0:15:31of the 20th century. He had to leave France in 1939
0:15:31 > 0:15:35to escape the increasing persecution of Jews in Europe.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38Dave Brubeck met Milhaud in 1946,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41and a profound personal and musical relationship was forged.
0:15:43 > 0:15:49Darius was a very respected French bass composer.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52Classically-trained, came from the classical world,
0:15:52 > 0:15:55very heavily influenced by the French tradition -
0:15:55 > 0:15:59Ravel, Debussy, etc - before him. But who had this
0:15:59 > 0:16:02very, very open view of music.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06One of the musics that he discovered and that he loved -
0:16:06 > 0:16:10and he was very pioneering in this sense - was jazz.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13And he happened to have come to the United States
0:16:13 > 0:16:15to teach in California, right around the time
0:16:15 > 0:16:20that Dave Brubeck was looking to continue his musical studies
0:16:20 > 0:16:22on the GI Bill after World War II.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24I'd like to say about Milhaud,
0:16:24 > 0:16:28beyond the fact that he really was a musical genius,
0:16:28 > 0:16:32that he was a very, very kind man.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35Very good to us, very good to Dave.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38Darius Milhaud was the first serious musician
0:16:38 > 0:16:39to become interested in jazz.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41And, as early as 1923,
0:16:41 > 0:16:44he incorporated this form of music in his ballet,
0:16:44 > 0:16:46The Creation Of The World.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50Here now to meet the Milhauds are several of his former students,
0:16:50 > 0:16:53whom he affectionately calls his Mills College boys.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57Teacher Milhaud filled them with counterpoint and polytonality.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00But, says Brubeck, he also advised us to stick to jazz,
0:17:00 > 0:17:02otherwise we would be working out of our own field
0:17:02 > 0:17:05and not taking advantage of our American heritage.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09HE PLAYS
0:17:17 > 0:17:21Milhaud was the beacon
0:17:21 > 0:17:26that came here and shone for all the jazz musicians.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30Here he is saying jazz is a great art form.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33He told us things like Satie, his teacher,
0:17:33 > 0:17:36said "jazz cries out its soul and nobody cares."
0:17:36 > 0:17:43He would say to us when we tried to sound like European music,
0:17:43 > 0:17:45"Why are you doing this?"
0:17:45 > 0:17:48He'd say, "You can play boogie-woogie."
0:17:48 > 0:17:50HE PLAYS BOOGIE-WOOGIE
0:17:50 > 0:17:53That's the way every lesson with Milhaud would start.
0:17:53 > 0:17:55HE PLAYS BOOGIE-WOOGIE
0:18:34 > 0:18:38He composed as if you were writing a letter.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40Not a very carefully thought-out letter,
0:18:40 > 0:18:44because everything was just moving as fast as his pen could go.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47Then he would send it off to the publisher.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50I've just finished the second movement of the sonatina.
0:18:50 > 0:18:52Do you want to come and try it on the piano?
0:18:52 > 0:18:57- THEY PLAY - Not so fast.
0:19:07 > 0:19:13Stravinsky wanted Madeleine to come to New York
0:19:13 > 0:19:19from Mills College, because she is an actress that can read music.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22- And you knew Madeleine very well. - Yes.
0:19:22 > 0:19:28- I heard that she just passed away. - 104, can you imagine?! - I can't believe it.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32He gave me a direction - "Never give up jazz.
0:19:32 > 0:19:37"You can play jazz." He'd say, "I wish I could play jazz.
0:19:37 > 0:19:42"You want to be a composer like me, I want to be like you.
0:19:42 > 0:19:44"Don't give up what you can do."
0:19:44 > 0:19:49Dave, uh...played nothing at all like he's playing now.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53He would, uh...be playing...
0:19:53 > 0:19:58Something like Milhaud with his right hand and Bartok with his left,
0:19:58 > 0:20:01in several different keys and several different rhythms.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04And this is not on his chorus, this is while you're trying to play,
0:20:04 > 0:20:07or some poor singer is trying to sing, and he's going...
0:20:09 > 0:20:12HE PLAYS
0:20:15 > 0:20:18Uh... I, at the same time,
0:20:18 > 0:20:22was playing at the top of the horn, the high notes.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26THEY PLAY: "Brandenburg Gate" by Dave Brubeck
0:21:02 > 0:21:05APPLAUSE AND CHEERS
0:21:05 > 0:21:08In the early '50s, a kind of jazz developed on the West Coast
0:21:08 > 0:21:10which was laid back and lyrical.
0:21:10 > 0:21:14It was labelled "cool", in contrast to the hot bebop of New York.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17Some of the key names were Chet Baker,
0:21:17 > 0:21:20Gerry Mulligan and Cal Tjader.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24But however persuasive the word "cool" was to describe that style,
0:21:24 > 0:21:28and however popular it was, and however much Dave Brubeck might have
0:21:28 > 0:21:31been represented as its epitome,
0:21:31 > 0:21:33the tremendous range of his music and imagination
0:21:33 > 0:21:35could never be pigeon-holed into one term.
0:21:35 > 0:21:40Cool in the sense that it was used as a term to define music of,
0:21:40 > 0:21:44say, the West Coast in the late '50s and early '60s
0:21:44 > 0:21:48does not now and never has applied to Dave.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52Dave is... Sometimes he plays very lyrically and gently,
0:21:52 > 0:21:56and sometimes he... thunders away at you
0:21:56 > 0:21:59and, uh...
0:21:59 > 0:22:01He's unique, he's one of a kind.
0:22:01 > 0:22:06I never agreed with being called cool because, uh...
0:22:06 > 0:22:10At the time when they were calling me cool,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14I can show you records that were steaming, they were so hot.
0:22:14 > 0:22:15It was a wonderful period.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18And of course there was the Burma Lounge
0:22:18 > 0:22:19on Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland,
0:22:19 > 0:22:24and we were all kind of a bunch of kids and we thought George Shearing
0:22:24 > 0:22:28and a lot of the groups that were coming along then were great,
0:22:28 > 0:22:30and then somebody said, "There's this new guy
0:22:30 > 0:22:34"down at the Burma Lounge," so we've got to go down
0:22:34 > 0:22:38and see him. So we came in there and sat in the back,
0:22:38 > 0:22:43lied about our age so we could get an Acme Beer or something like that.
0:22:43 > 0:22:48The sleazy joints were some of the greatest places to play jazz.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50HE PLAYS JAZZ PIANO
0:22:50 > 0:22:53There was some element of slumming to go there.
0:22:53 > 0:22:55People thought they were really brave
0:22:55 > 0:22:58if they went there once in their life. I was there every night.
0:22:58 > 0:23:05And I got accustomed to thinking this was the closest thing to heaven
0:23:05 > 0:23:08I would ever know on earth, because the people were so great.
0:23:10 > 0:23:11That, uh...
0:23:11 > 0:23:16was one of our first jobs with the trio,
0:23:16 > 0:23:19with Cal Tjader, Ron Crotty.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21- It was great.- Yeah.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23Yeah, I remember seeing that,
0:23:23 > 0:23:25because Cal was playing
0:23:25 > 0:23:29- both drums and vibes. - And he could switch back and forth
0:23:29 > 0:23:33immediately and not miss a beat.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37I don't see how he can move that fast
0:23:37 > 0:23:40- from one instrument to another. - Yeah, I don't know either.
0:23:40 > 0:23:46We made our first four recordings of 78s in a half-hour.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49- Oh, really?- Yeah!- You just rambled right through 'em, huh?
0:23:49 > 0:23:56- Had to because...- And they were the red vinyl on Fantasy.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59I think there's so much about Dave Brubeck's story
0:23:59 > 0:24:02that you can say, "What if this wasn't there?
0:24:02 > 0:24:04"What if he hadn't met up with Paul Desmond?"
0:24:04 > 0:24:06Paul was not supposed to be part of his group.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10It was Paul who decided, "I have to play with Dave Brubeck,"
0:24:10 > 0:24:13and he kept pushing and pushing Dave to put him into the quartet,
0:24:13 > 0:24:16because Dave was perfectly happy to have a trio.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41And then we formed the quartet
0:24:41 > 0:24:47and by that time Dave had mellowed enough to realise
0:24:47 > 0:24:52what has been one of the primary rules of the group ever since,
0:24:52 > 0:24:55that whoever is playing the solo at any given moment
0:24:55 > 0:25:01is the one who deserves... uh...care and attention.
0:25:01 > 0:25:05And he has become, or he became almost instantly, I should say,
0:25:05 > 0:25:09one of the really best accompanists in the world.
0:25:09 > 0:25:16I went over to the Black Hawk and saw the quartet when it first came into being and it was great.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19Thus began one of the legendary collaborations
0:25:19 > 0:25:21in the history of jazz.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30To me, Paul...
0:25:30 > 0:25:36had a West Coast wind sound,
0:25:36 > 0:25:39almost a bottomless feel.
0:25:44 > 0:25:50- Paul went on to become more distinctive in his own style.- Yeah.
0:25:50 > 0:25:56That extremely...beautiful way he played after a few gin-and-tonics.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58- It was... - THEY CHUCKLE
0:25:58 > 0:26:00Dave's brother, Howard Brubeck, is chairman
0:26:00 > 0:26:04of the music department of Palomar College in California.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06Some time ago, he wrote a fairly long
0:26:06 > 0:26:10and very interesting work for the Brubeck Quartet with an orchestra.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12He called it Dialogue For Jazz Combo And Orchestra.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14The resulting thing was conducted
0:26:14 > 0:26:17by Leonard Bernstein, you may have heard the record.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20We've condensed, rather Dave has condensed, the second movement
0:26:20 > 0:26:22for simply quartet use.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49Jazz in the '50s was a smoke-filled room,
0:26:49 > 0:26:53little nightclubs. It wasn't a concert music.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55Festivals hadn't come along yet.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59The only concerts were Norman Grant's Jazz At The Philharmonic.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02Brubeck took it out of that cult situation,
0:27:02 > 0:27:04which had developed around Bird and Dizzy
0:27:04 > 0:27:09and the concept that a jazz musician was involved with drugs,
0:27:09 > 0:27:14was involved with...you know, this romance that had grown up about
0:27:14 > 0:27:17and still is there about the life of a jazz musician.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21He is Mr Dave Brubeck! Please welcome Dave Brubeck and his band!
0:27:21 > 0:27:23CHEERS AND APPLAUSE
0:27:23 > 0:27:27Brubeck has always been attentive to the work of other musicians,
0:27:27 > 0:27:30often paying tribute by dedicating compositions to them.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33Marian McPartland is a long-time friend and musical colleague,
0:27:33 > 0:27:39and he gave her name to a composition he performed at a recent Newport Jazz Festival.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41You played wonderfully that day.
0:28:52 > 0:28:53All that college series -
0:28:53 > 0:28:57Jazz At Oberlin, Jazz At College Of The Pacific, Jazz Goes To College -
0:28:57 > 0:29:01he brought young people into jazz.
0:29:01 > 0:29:02He was an educator.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04And in that time in history,
0:29:04 > 0:29:05when jazz was becom...
0:29:05 > 0:29:10- Most of the jazz artists were all older.- Mmm.
0:29:10 > 0:29:16When you're that age, you know, when you're between sort of 16 and 22,
0:29:16 > 0:29:20you're really willing to be open to anything,
0:29:20 > 0:29:23and I liked anything that was emotional, you know,
0:29:23 > 0:29:27and obviously going through a lot of different genres of music.
0:29:27 > 0:29:32But...Dave Brubeck sort of stuck out for me.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35I was especially attracted to that, what he was doing,
0:29:35 > 0:29:39because it wasn't jazz that was so far out.
0:29:52 > 0:29:56He was the first jazz musician to take over the college circuit
0:29:56 > 0:29:59and played in colleges all over the country.
0:29:59 > 0:30:04It occurred to me that this was an inroad that really hadn't been developed,
0:30:04 > 0:30:12so I just looked up all of the colleges that were within driving distance
0:30:12 > 0:30:17and wrote letters, usually to the student association.
0:30:17 > 0:30:24The fact that, um, Iola Brubeck appealed to the students themselves
0:30:24 > 0:30:30when she first started booking Dave and the quartet onto college campuses was very important.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49Iola Brubeck's idea of taking her husband's new music to colleges
0:30:49 > 0:30:51opened the doors for other groups.
0:30:51 > 0:30:54The Modern Jazz Quartet and Gerry Mulligan's band
0:30:54 > 0:30:59shared Brubeck's mixing of jazz and classical music.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02They all made music that was ambitious and experimental
0:31:02 > 0:31:05and yet their sound was instantly appealing.
0:31:05 > 0:31:07They all became household names.
0:31:08 > 0:31:12It seems that the differences between the string quartet
0:31:12 > 0:31:18and the Jazz Quartet are possibly more obvious than the similarities.
0:31:18 > 0:31:23Because of the presence of our rhythm section that plays an unvarying tempo.
0:31:23 > 0:31:29But, based on this unvarying tempo, we have a wide latitude
0:31:29 > 0:31:33and the possibility of contrapuntal interplay between two or more voices.
0:31:45 > 0:31:49Brubeck's contribution to modern jazz was significantly
0:31:49 > 0:31:52in the employment of complex and unusual time signatures.
0:31:52 > 0:31:555/4, 11/8, 7/4.
0:31:55 > 0:31:57Most jazz was in straight 4/4 time.
0:31:57 > 0:32:02He found drummer with a unique genius for realising his ideas.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17Paul said to me,
0:32:17 > 0:32:23"You've got to go and hear this guy, Joe Morello. He's so fantastic."
0:32:23 > 0:32:26I asked Joe if he would join the group.
0:32:26 > 0:32:31And he said, "Well, I'll tell you, I'll join the group,
0:32:31 > 0:32:35"but your drummer and your bass player are out to lunch.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37"You never let them do anything."
0:32:37 > 0:32:39At the Marquee, there was a kind of a sign
0:32:39 > 0:32:42that was Dave Brubeck Quartet featuring Paul Desmond,
0:32:42 > 0:32:46and the other guys were nothing. They could have been zilch.
0:32:46 > 0:32:49I said, "Joe, I'll feature you."
0:32:49 > 0:32:54So the first night he joined I gave him a drum solo.
0:33:32 > 0:33:35I did the drum solo and the place went wild.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38People just stood up and clapped and all this nonsense.
0:33:38 > 0:33:42Paul Desmond, in the middle of... the end of the solo,
0:33:42 > 0:33:46he just walks off to stand and runs in the dressing room.
0:33:46 > 0:33:51And Paul said, "Either he goes or I go."
0:33:51 > 0:33:54And I said, "Paul, he's not going."
0:33:54 > 0:33:55Which was a shock, you know?
0:33:55 > 0:34:00Gene is one of the finest bass players I have ever worked with
0:34:00 > 0:34:03and probably the easiest person to get along with,
0:34:03 > 0:34:06because usually bass players and drummers never agree.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14Eugene Wright's steady bass patterns were an ideal complement
0:34:14 > 0:34:17to the more complex rhythms of Brubeck and Morello.
0:34:17 > 0:34:21When racists in southern states objected to his presence,
0:34:21 > 0:34:23Brubeck cancelled the concerts.
0:34:36 > 0:34:40There is a group sound that just naturally comes with these guys
0:34:40 > 0:34:43after we've played together this many years.
0:34:43 > 0:34:44You see, each guy...
0:34:44 > 0:34:48Desmond I consider the most lyrical jazz musician playing.
0:34:48 > 0:34:55I consider Morello to be the greatest exponent of time and rhythm there is today.
0:34:55 > 0:34:57And being that I feel this way about these guys,
0:34:57 > 0:35:01I can get a certain thing to happen with them.
0:35:01 > 0:35:05I want Desmond to be lyrical. I want Morello do all these crazy things.
0:35:05 > 0:35:11And I want Eugene Wright to be the swinging rock bottom of the group, which he is.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24In the mid-1950s under Goddard Lieberson
0:35:24 > 0:35:26and his producer George Avakian,
0:35:26 > 0:35:30Columbia became the home of such jazz giants as Louis Armstrong,
0:35:30 > 0:35:31Duke Ellington, Miles Davis,
0:35:31 > 0:35:35and the most successful of them all, Dave Brubeck.
0:35:49 > 0:35:51Very tasty, Dave, very tasty.
0:35:51 > 0:35:56I had the good fortune of having to go out to San Francisco,
0:35:56 > 0:35:57the Bay area,
0:35:57 > 0:36:01and I heard the quartet for the first time there.
0:36:01 > 0:36:04I had already heard their records on Fantasy of course
0:36:04 > 0:36:06and been pretty impressed.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31Dave said that he was breaking off from Fantasy Records,
0:36:31 > 0:36:34a company that he had started himself,
0:36:34 > 0:36:36and would be available.
0:36:36 > 0:36:41And I told him, "I'd be delighted to have you record for Columbia."
0:36:41 > 0:36:45And I said, "I have no idea what I can offer you.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48"What do you want, in the way of an advance?"
0:36:48 > 0:36:53He told me that if he could get a 6,000 advance,
0:36:53 > 0:36:56it would pay off the mortgage on the family ranch
0:36:56 > 0:36:58and I said, "I think I can swing that."
0:37:08 > 0:37:11One thing I could say about Dave Brubeck is obviously that
0:37:11 > 0:37:13a lot of those albums in the '50s and '60s,
0:37:13 > 0:37:15they have modern art
0:37:15 > 0:37:17on the front, so I know it's an album of his.
0:37:17 > 0:37:20I think it's Time Further Out where there's Miro on the front.
0:37:20 > 0:37:27And it's really... It's music that really does make jazz sound like
0:37:27 > 0:37:31kind of abstract, modern paintings.
0:37:31 > 0:37:33When you look at those paintings,
0:37:33 > 0:37:34you can really hear
0:37:34 > 0:37:38the way Dave interprets that kind of artwork in his music.
0:37:54 > 0:37:58To me, the definition of art is to be able to communicate with others,
0:37:58 > 0:38:00to communicate emotions.
0:38:02 > 0:38:04Because it's...that's what art is.
0:38:04 > 0:38:05It's the ability to
0:38:05 > 0:38:08transfer an emotion to another person.
0:38:22 > 0:38:23Dave, it turns out that today,
0:38:23 > 0:38:26there seems to be as many kinds of jazz as,
0:38:26 > 0:38:28well, French political parties, for instance.
0:38:28 > 0:38:33And we don't know where one jazz performance stands next to another,
0:38:33 > 0:38:36whether you're a left-centrist, veering to the right...
0:38:36 > 0:38:39Where are you? Are you a progressive? Retrogressive?
0:38:39 > 0:38:42Well, we just like to be considered contemporary.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45In being contemporary, what do you consider...?
0:38:45 > 0:38:49Well, we're contemporary in a fortunate time in the history of jazz
0:38:49 > 0:38:53because I don't think ever before were contemporary jazz musicians
0:38:53 > 0:38:57allowed to use the jazz that had gone before.
0:38:57 > 0:39:01You see, we can use Dixieland, swing, bop,
0:39:01 > 0:39:03we can incorporate everything into our playing
0:39:03 > 0:39:05and no-one considers us corny.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08You feel you're not tied into a set technique?
0:39:08 > 0:39:11It's a very healthy situation, and I think it's the first time.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15In the 1950s jazz had a very special place.
0:39:15 > 0:39:21It was not just an idea of hipness, or a place that, you know...
0:39:21 > 0:39:24It was that idea of something that was way off the mainstream,
0:39:24 > 0:39:26slightly dangerous.
0:39:42 > 0:39:47I think there's a lot of good fortune, happy timing,
0:39:47 > 0:39:49in Dave Brubeck's career
0:39:49 > 0:39:53that has, like, propelled him to the level that he's on.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57The fact that he was on the cover of Time Magazine in 1954.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00Who knew, you know, that that was going to be
0:40:00 > 0:40:04the point at which a national magazine would want to cover jazz?
0:40:42 > 0:40:48I mean, modern jazz had been around for a good 10 years by that point
0:40:48 > 0:40:51and they could have chosen Charlie Parker...
0:40:56 > 0:40:58..or Thelonious Monk...
0:41:06 > 0:41:09..or Dizzy Gillespie as the hero to put on the cover.
0:41:14 > 0:41:17Um, it can be said that they went for a white face.
0:41:17 > 0:41:18The thing about Dave,
0:41:18 > 0:41:25it's kind of strange for a guy who's light years away from a racist,
0:41:25 > 0:41:29who's light years away from a commercial guy,
0:41:29 > 0:41:35who doesn't make recordings with any intention of pandering to the public, right?
0:41:35 > 0:41:37But the public likes him.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40And certainly, Dave Brubeck is very aware of the fact
0:41:40 > 0:41:43that they put his face on the cover of Time Magazine
0:41:43 > 0:41:46before they put someone like Duke Ellington.
0:41:46 > 0:41:48And he felt almost apologetic about that.
0:42:14 > 0:42:16I loved Duke Ellington.
0:42:16 > 0:42:20All my life and his life,
0:42:20 > 0:42:23right to the end we were good friends.
0:42:23 > 0:42:27He wrote some really beautiful things. You know?
0:42:56 > 0:43:00I didn't really get into jazz until I was in high school.
0:43:00 > 0:43:04That's when I started to focus on jazz and realise how great it was.
0:44:37 > 0:44:39But I said to Paul,
0:44:39 > 0:44:47"Why don't you put a melody over what Joe's doing in 5/4 time?
0:44:47 > 0:44:52"Because I'm doing an album right now in all different time signatures
0:44:52 > 0:44:55"and I'm going to call it Time Out."
0:44:55 > 0:44:58And so, Paul's assignment was to try to
0:44:58 > 0:45:06put a melody over, "ung-junka-chunk, boom-boom, ung-junka-chunk, boom".
0:45:06 > 0:45:08Which was Joe's rhythm.
0:45:47 > 0:45:50HE PLAYS PIANO
0:46:06 > 0:46:09It's all black keys so it's not too hard!
0:46:30 > 0:46:31Woo! Yeah!
0:46:31 > 0:46:37You listen back to Take Five, even the solo that Paul Desmond did,
0:46:37 > 0:46:41it almost doesn't sound like a solo, it sounds like a written out, beautiful piece of music.
0:46:41 > 0:46:45Every note is so crystal-clear and there's a lot of density and space.
0:46:45 > 0:46:50I think that record was just such a ground-breaking record for that reason,
0:46:50 > 0:46:53that no-one had ever approached jazz that way before.
0:47:11 > 0:47:14I was maybe 14 or 15.
0:47:14 > 0:47:18My dad stuck in a tape and the car and played Take Five.
0:47:18 > 0:47:21And it was part of my first jazz education.
0:47:21 > 0:47:26Obviously. I didn't know about him, I hadn't seen him live or seen him on the television,
0:47:26 > 0:47:30but Take Five was a tune that I knew and understood and loved from a very early age.
0:47:30 > 0:47:33Before I was interested in jazz.
0:47:33 > 0:47:39Yeah. Amazingly enough, I think it's the highest-selling jazz single ever made.
0:47:39 > 0:47:44You cannot imagine Time Out or Take Five being as successful
0:47:44 > 0:47:50without Joe Morello's drum solo, without Paul Desmond's melody.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53Without that incredible decision to do it in 5/4.
0:47:53 > 0:48:01And the jazz critics, they always thought Desmond was the key to the group.
0:48:01 > 0:48:04Desmond was only the icing on the cake. The cake was Dave Brubeck.
0:48:44 > 0:48:49In many ways, it's the tune I look forward to,
0:48:49 > 0:48:54probably the most, of the evening.
0:48:54 > 0:49:00Is how far out are we going to go on this one chord progression?
0:50:51 > 0:50:57Some of us are musicians, some of us are something else.
0:50:57 > 0:51:01But you're very aware of sound, of rhythms.
0:51:02 > 0:51:03Wherever I go,
0:51:03 > 0:51:10sometimes it's crickets - the sound of the water in the stream outside.
0:51:13 > 0:51:16Strange Meadow Lark
0:51:16 > 0:51:21was really my imitation
0:51:21 > 0:51:25of the meadow lark that I remembered in northern California.
0:51:25 > 0:51:32# Da-da dum, dee-da-da... #
0:52:11 > 0:52:16'In 1960, Brubeck and Iola switched coasts and settled
0:52:16 > 0:52:20'in Wilton, Connecticut, where they still live.
0:52:20 > 0:52:27'There they raised their six children - Darius, Michael, Chris, Catherine, Daniel and Matthew.'
0:52:27 > 0:52:31Those days, my life was centred around raising a family
0:52:31 > 0:52:35and those cool guys do whatever they wanted to do.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41'The members of this group,
0:52:41 > 0:52:44'Darius Brubeck, on electric keyboards.'
0:52:44 > 0:52:47APPLAUSE
0:52:51 > 0:52:54'Chris Brubeck on bass.'
0:52:54 > 0:52:56APPLAUSE
0:52:59 > 0:53:03Danny Brubeck on drums. APPLAUSE
0:53:26 > 0:53:30'When I grow up, you could play in five joints in one block,
0:53:30 > 0:53:31'you could play jazz.'
0:53:31 > 0:53:33That's gone. It's coming back...
0:53:33 > 0:53:37- There are about five in this country, come to think of it.- Yeah.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41It's a lot more difficult for you guys to work playing jazz than I did.
0:53:41 > 0:53:43I really feel sorry.
0:53:43 > 0:53:47I didn't want you to be jazz musicians. I told you!
0:54:11 > 0:54:15His whole family - and I know you know Iola and Danny
0:54:15 > 0:54:20and Chris and Darius - it's just an amazing family. They're all musical
0:54:20 > 0:54:24and they're are all wonderful.
0:54:24 > 0:54:28They all seem to have enjoyed the variety.
0:54:28 > 0:54:29Yeah, they seem to embrace it.
0:54:29 > 0:54:35Brubeck's pursuit of his musical ideas has been consolidated by his children.
0:54:35 > 0:54:40Last year, along with Robert De Niro, Bruce Springsteen, Grace Bumbry and Mel Brooks,
0:54:40 > 0:54:46Brubeck was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors - America's most prestigious cultural accolade.
0:54:46 > 0:54:49His sons provided the band.
0:54:49 > 0:54:52Ladies and gentlemen, the four sons of Dave Brubeck.
0:56:22 > 0:56:28With more than 60 years in jazz, Brubeck has become the living repository of the music itself.
0:56:28 > 0:56:34One of its greatest experimenters - he's always had the keenest appreciation of its history.
0:56:34 > 0:56:37Like to start the set...
0:56:37 > 0:56:39with one of the first blues -
0:56:39 > 0:56:45maybe the first blues ever written by WC Handy.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49It was called St Louis Blues.
0:56:49 > 0:56:52Surprise to me,
0:56:52 > 0:57:00it was the first blues ever written started as a tango.
0:57:00 > 0:57:04Figure that one out, all you fusion lovers!
0:57:33 > 0:57:38Say, the label says it's St Louis Blues.
0:57:38 > 0:57:42It didn't sound much like St Louis Blues.
0:57:42 > 0:57:45Well, in the opening, we did play the melody.
0:57:45 > 0:57:49And, from then on, you know, as jazz musicians, you're free to
0:57:49 > 0:57:54improvise on that tune - on those chord progressions.
0:58:14 > 0:58:16Are there any rules for improvisation?
0:58:16 > 0:58:18You bet your life there are.
0:58:18 > 0:58:21The rules in jazz would just scare you to death.
0:58:21 > 0:58:24They're are so strict, it's pitiful.
0:58:24 > 0:58:26Just break one of the rules
0:58:26 > 0:58:31and you'll never end up in another jam session with the same guys again - believe me!
0:58:42 > 0:58:45In his early days, and still today,
0:58:45 > 0:58:48he's as bold as anybody when he gets off on an idea
0:58:48 > 0:58:51or he gets a semi-idea and he's kind of working it out.
0:58:51 > 0:58:53You can kind of feel that, as it's going along.
0:58:53 > 0:58:56That was part of the unravelling process.
0:59:12 > 0:59:16It would be a 12 bar blues chorus.
0:59:16 > 0:59:21From there on, we all improvise on this.
0:59:21 > 0:59:26The bass player has a baseline that outlines the chord progressions.
0:59:26 > 0:59:29Although he's playing a walking bass...
0:59:29 > 0:59:34HE PLAYS WALKING BASS
0:59:44 > 0:59:47..it's the same chord progressions throughout.
0:59:52 > 0:59:54APPLAUSE
1:00:07 > 1:00:10He stuck there most of the tune.
1:00:10 > 1:00:14He can do any variation on these chord progressions.
1:00:14 > 1:00:16While he's playing that...
1:00:20 > 1:00:22..then we improvise.
1:00:23 > 1:00:28And, if I want, I can play old-fashioned kind of...
1:00:28 > 1:00:30left-hand chords.
1:01:03 > 1:01:06Now, see that!
1:01:06 > 1:01:07That isn't too modern.
1:01:22 > 1:01:27'Brubeck's gifts - not only to play, but to introduce and explain jazz -
1:01:27 > 1:01:32'made him an ideal candidate to be a key player in America's global cultural programmes,
1:01:32 > 1:01:36'along with Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie.
1:01:36 > 1:01:39'He became one of the great jazz ambassadors,
1:01:39 > 1:01:43'even to the Eastern bloc during the most intense phase of the Cold War.'
1:01:43 > 1:01:48Then, in 1958, the Dave Brubeck Quartet went on a State Department tour.
1:01:48 > 1:01:55This was first hand knowledge of what went on and what happened when a jazz group went into a country
1:01:55 > 1:02:02where jazz was a real novelty and where jazz was taken seriously as an American art form.
1:02:02 > 1:02:05It was the very first State Department tour
1:02:05 > 1:02:06Dave had gone on.
1:02:06 > 1:02:09He did 12 concerts in Poland.
1:02:09 > 1:02:12On the very last night,
1:02:12 > 1:02:18he dedicated a new composition that he was inspired by visiting the Chopin museum.
1:02:39 > 1:02:43Going through my mind was
1:02:43 > 1:02:47all the Chopin that my mother had played.
1:02:48 > 1:02:51You call it "Dziekuje" -
1:02:51 > 1:02:54that means thank you in Polish.
1:03:13 > 1:03:16APPLAUSE
1:03:16 > 1:03:19Dave, you've been all over the world now.
1:03:19 > 1:03:23Do you think people around the world react the same way to music?
1:03:23 > 1:03:29What I did learn on this tour - that rhythm is an international language.
1:03:29 > 1:03:32Not harmony and melody but rhythm.
1:03:32 > 1:03:37Maybe the thing that binds humanity together is the heartbeat.
1:03:37 > 1:03:44It's the first thing you hear - even before you're born, you hear your mother's heartbeat - a steady pulse.
1:03:44 > 1:03:47You know, it's the last thing you hear before you die.
1:04:11 > 1:04:14APPLAUSE
1:04:19 > 1:04:21When you go to other countries like this,
1:04:21 > 1:04:25do you look for their musical influences or do they just happen?
1:04:25 > 1:04:29I look. I think if you could spend a lot more time in each country
1:04:29 > 1:04:35you'd find a lot more that could be used in jazz or in our contemporary classical music.
1:04:35 > 1:04:39This is the main way you're broadening the horizons of jazz at the moment -
1:04:39 > 1:04:41through other nationalities' music.
1:04:41 > 1:04:45Right. And I always thought this would be the way that jazz did broaden its scope,
1:04:45 > 1:04:49because, from the beginning, it's been kind of the melting pot of music
1:04:49 > 1:04:54and it should not be limited to what it used in the beginning, which was mainly African and European.
1:04:54 > 1:04:58If you can figure out a way to reach into
1:04:58 > 1:05:03the Turkish musical tradition, or Afghanistan or Iraq,
1:05:03 > 1:05:08which is basically the trip that he made in 1958,
1:05:08 > 1:05:11that kind of informed the Time Out album.
1:05:11 > 1:05:15Blue Rondo A La Turk was a street rhythm.
1:05:15 > 1:05:20I heard street musicians playing in Istanbul.
1:05:20 > 1:05:23The rhythm fascinated me so much.
1:05:23 > 1:05:25One, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, three,
1:05:25 > 1:05:26one, two, one, two, one, two...
1:05:36 > 1:05:40After Take Five, I then listened to, what was it? Unsquare Dance?
1:05:40 > 1:05:42- Yeah, Unsquare Dance. - I think was seven.
1:05:42 > 1:05:44And then Blue Rondo A La Turk.
1:05:44 > 1:05:50It really... I think music, the complexity of music is something that a lot of people don't like.
1:05:50 > 1:05:54They say, that's not music if the intervals are slightly more
1:05:54 > 1:05:57complicated than thirds and fifths, they think, "It's not music."
1:05:57 > 1:05:59Or if the rhythm's complicated.
1:05:59 > 1:06:03It's a different part of the brain that analyses that kind of thing.
1:06:03 > 1:06:08When you're listening to thirds and fifths and simple common music - this part of the brain works.
1:06:08 > 1:06:12Whereas, to analyse more complex music, you have to go to another side of the brain.
1:06:12 > 1:06:15You only get to that if you're exposed to it.
1:06:15 > 1:06:17- Yeah.- Which is the problem these days.
1:06:17 > 1:06:21It's like being right-handed but deciding to write a little bit left-handed for a while
1:06:21 > 1:06:23just to exercise your brain.
1:06:54 > 1:06:56Woo-hoo!
1:06:57 > 1:07:01That Blue Rondo A La Turk is interesting.
1:07:01 > 1:07:05I was listening to Emerson Lake and Palmer a while back,
1:07:05 > 1:07:08just recently here,
1:07:08 > 1:07:13and their interpretation was really bizarre and wild.
1:07:13 > 1:07:17But it was amazing how it influences everybody in almost every form of music.
1:07:17 > 1:07:19I'm sure Dave would have enjoyed it.
1:07:19 > 1:07:21I know he has an open mind about music still.
1:07:21 > 1:07:24I came across this, actually.
1:07:24 > 1:07:25Look at that!
1:07:27 > 1:07:32See what Dave wrote there? "For Keith, with many thanks for your 4/4 version."
1:07:32 > 1:07:35The full version of Blue Rondo A La Turk.
1:07:35 > 1:07:41Of course, he did actually write it in 9/8, which is, you know...
1:07:47 > 1:07:50And I played it in 4/4.
1:08:19 > 1:08:23Dave Brubeck, he showed up in 1994 at the White House one day.
1:08:24 > 1:08:2935 years after the Time Out album.
1:08:29 > 1:08:32And we started talking about music and I said I was a big fan.
1:08:32 > 1:08:36He looked at me like "I've got you, you're just another politician."
1:08:36 > 1:08:41He said now, "Come on! Besides Take Five, what tune did we ever do that you really liked?"
1:08:41 > 1:08:44I said, "I really liked Blue Rondo."
1:08:44 > 1:08:45He said, "You're kidding."
1:08:45 > 1:08:47I said, "No, I really liked it."
1:08:47 > 1:08:49He said, "I don't believe you."
1:08:49 > 1:08:51I swear this happened. I said, "No, I did."
1:08:51 > 1:08:54He said, "Hum the bridge."
1:08:54 > 1:08:56LAUGHTER
1:08:56 > 1:08:58And I did. # Da da da da da... #
1:08:58 > 1:09:01Anyway, I did it. He said, you're the only elected official
1:09:01 > 1:09:04who ever knew the bridge to that song.
1:09:23 > 1:09:30Dave and I, I think, had thought about writing a musical for Broadway,
1:09:30 > 1:09:34employing jazz, for quite some time.
1:09:34 > 1:09:39The problem was to find a book that was a natural book.
1:09:40 > 1:09:42And, er, about that time,
1:09:42 > 1:09:46Louis Armstrong had gone to Africa and, of course,
1:09:46 > 1:09:49so many jazz artists started going to Europe for the first time.
1:09:49 > 1:09:55Would you believe that, after travelling through Africa, the Far East,
1:09:55 > 1:10:02the Near East, Japan, this was my first time on the French Riviera.
1:10:02 > 1:10:07So after that experience we decided this is what we would write about.
1:10:07 > 1:10:11And the more we got involved in it, the more it seemed the only person
1:10:11 > 1:10:17who could possibly play the leading role was Louis Armstrong.
1:10:17 > 1:10:21On the recording. you can hear Louis actually choke up and cry.
1:10:21 > 1:10:27# When will that great day come?
1:10:27 > 1:10:31# And everyone that loveth is born of God
1:10:31 > 1:10:36# When everyone is one... #
1:10:36 > 1:10:42Is that why famous jazz musicians are often quite humble men?
1:10:42 > 1:10:46Yeah. Well, Louis Armstrong would fit that category.
1:10:46 > 1:10:53# And there will be no more misery
1:10:53 > 1:10:58INDISTINCT RESPONSE
1:10:58 > 1:11:06# When God tells man he's a really free. #
1:11:06 > 1:11:10The only time the show we wrote for Louis, The Real Ambassador,
1:11:10 > 1:11:13was ever done was at the Monterey Jazz Festival.
1:11:13 > 1:11:17And there was no time to really rehearse, so we rushed through
1:11:17 > 1:11:20a rehearsal on the day of the performance.
1:11:20 > 1:11:24So I told Louis, "You should have a top hat
1:11:24 > 1:11:28"and an attache case so you look like the real ambassador."
1:11:28 > 1:11:35He said, "Man, I'm not going to wear a top hat and carry a briefcase."
1:11:35 > 1:11:39And it came time for Louis to make his entrance
1:11:39 > 1:11:41and the place broke into applause.
1:11:41 > 1:11:45And I looked over and there's Louis with the top hat,
1:11:45 > 1:11:50the attache case and he sang his first number, the place went wild.
1:11:50 > 1:11:54And he said to me, "Pops, am I hamming it up enough to suit you?"
1:11:56 > 1:11:59# I'm the real ambassador
1:11:59 > 1:12:02# It is evident I was sent
1:12:02 > 1:12:05# By government to take your place
1:12:05 > 1:12:08# All I do is play the blues and meet the people face-to-face
1:12:08 > 1:12:13# I'll explain and make it plain I represent the human race
1:12:13 > 1:12:17# And don't pretend no more... #
1:12:17 > 1:12:22It was rough going. It's always been rough going for jazz musicians.
1:12:22 > 1:12:26And then, when you finally rise out of this poverty situation,
1:12:26 > 1:12:28there's different ways you can do it.
1:12:28 > 1:12:32You can get into studio work, into Hollywood work,
1:12:32 > 1:12:37into playing Broadway shows, or you can finally make it.
1:12:46 > 1:12:48Because of the success that Brubeck has achieved,
1:12:48 > 1:12:52he has been able to fulfil his musical ambitions comprehensively.
1:12:52 > 1:12:55In his recent collaboration with cellist, Yo-Yo Ma,
1:12:55 > 1:12:59he's made his mother's dream of the classical concert hall come true.
1:12:59 > 1:13:00Sounds Of Joy.
1:13:00 > 1:13:04I took the old Gregorian chant...
1:13:06 > 1:13:10..and then my son, Matthew, took that
1:13:10 > 1:13:12and he arranged it and...
1:13:15 > 1:13:18..thought like a cellist,
1:13:18 > 1:13:22which a cellist can do better than a pianist.
1:13:44 > 1:13:47This is a fabulous song, just fabulous.
1:14:43 > 1:14:46The performing part is what made Dave Brubeck.
1:14:46 > 1:14:49Composing is something he loves.
1:14:49 > 1:14:53He will be remembered as a composer as time goes on.
1:14:53 > 1:14:58Like his idol, Duke Ellington, Brubeck has incorporated styles
1:14:58 > 1:15:01and sounds from different disciplines and different places.
1:15:01 > 1:15:06And like Ellington, some of his most engaged music has been sacred music.
1:15:17 > 1:15:20The centre of The Light In The Wilderness for me
1:15:20 > 1:15:27is Christ's statement "Love your enemies, do good to those that hate you."
1:15:27 > 1:15:31And that's right in the middle of that piece.
1:15:35 > 1:15:40I had a friend from New Orleans and she'd say, "Lord, Lord,
1:15:40 > 1:15:44"what will tomorrow bring?"
1:15:44 > 1:15:47And so I set that.
1:15:57 > 1:16:00And Iola added,
1:16:00 > 1:16:03"Today I felt an arrow
1:16:03 > 1:16:07"stinging in a wound so deep
1:16:07 > 1:16:11"my eyes refuse to weep."
1:16:11 > 1:16:16# ..My eyes
1:16:16 > 1:16:21# Refuse to weep... #
1:16:24 > 1:16:27What will tomorrow bring?
1:17:16 > 1:17:23# What will tomorrow bring? #
1:17:23 > 1:17:27It ends with a question - it's up to you -
1:17:27 > 1:17:32what will tomorrow bring? And the answer, that's up to you what happens tomorrow.
1:17:59 > 1:18:04There are certain things that I haven't been able to say in jazz
1:18:04 > 1:18:07that I can in my cantatas and oratorios.
1:18:07 > 1:18:10I love the human voice.
1:18:10 > 1:18:14I love to hear a choir sing.
1:18:14 > 1:18:16Any way I can get goose flesh, I'm for that.
1:18:20 > 1:18:23LYRICS INDISTINCT
1:18:23 > 1:18:28The mass he wrote several years ago appears to have had the deepest impact on him personally.
1:18:28 > 1:18:32After completing that work, he joined the Catholic Church.
1:18:34 > 1:18:38I became so involved with the mass
1:18:38 > 1:18:45that it was almost like a calling that I didn't understand to join this church.
1:18:45 > 1:18:50My family doesn't understand it and I can't explain it much more than that.
1:18:50 > 1:18:53But the mass was such an experience for me.
1:18:53 > 1:18:59Brubeck spent the summer working on a special request that was a special honour -
1:18:59 > 1:19:03music for the mass that Pope John Paul was going to celebrate in San Francisco.
1:19:04 > 1:19:10The reading that they wanted was "Upon this rock
1:19:10 > 1:19:12"I will build my church." So...
1:19:29 > 1:19:32CHOIR SING
1:19:35 > 1:19:39And while we were performing, I heard the 70,000 people,
1:19:39 > 1:19:44just the level of the stadium, just increase a bit,
1:19:44 > 1:19:47and I looked up and the Pope was looking right over at us.
1:19:47 > 1:19:50And I wondered
1:19:50 > 1:19:53why the noise level had gone up.
1:19:53 > 1:19:57So when the conductor came over to me when we finished, I said,
1:19:57 > 1:20:00"Did the Pope bless us or something?"
1:20:00 > 1:20:07And he said, "Either he blessed us or he's learning how to conduct in 4/4 time."
1:20:07 > 1:20:09Because...
1:20:09 > 1:20:12What kind of attitude do you have
1:20:12 > 1:20:14to this word "heaven"?
1:20:14 > 1:20:16How would you unpack its contents?
1:20:16 > 1:20:19Well, I would say that
1:20:19 > 1:20:23I do believe in heaven and I believe in eternal life.
1:20:24 > 1:20:30And, er...I believe in the miraculous
1:20:30 > 1:20:33and the things you can't explain.
1:20:33 > 1:20:35And that's what faith is.
1:20:48 > 1:20:54When you get to heaven, are there any particular people that you would like to meet there?
1:20:54 > 1:20:56- Oh, yeah!- Well, come on, give us some of them.
1:20:56 > 1:21:00Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong,
1:21:00 > 1:21:01Stan Kenton,
1:21:01 > 1:21:07Woody Herman and Paul Desmond,
1:21:07 > 1:21:09we were together so many years.
1:21:43 > 1:21:47He's more interested now in orchestral composition,
1:21:47 > 1:21:52but I don't think that his composing would have meant as much
1:21:52 > 1:21:56or mean as much if his performance hadn't carried him for 60 years,
1:21:56 > 1:22:00thrilling audiences and thrilling people.
1:22:22 > 1:22:25This guy is always having fun.
1:22:25 > 1:22:29I mean, here he is at the age of 88, you know,
1:22:29 > 1:22:32and he still has this incredible sort of
1:22:32 > 1:22:37teenage enthusiasm for what he does.
1:22:39 > 1:22:42The guy he's got now, Bobby, is really good. Have you heard him?
1:22:42 > 1:22:43No.
1:22:43 > 1:22:47He's terrific. He doesn't try to imitate Paul exactly,
1:22:47 > 1:22:52but he can do sweet and energetic. He's great.
1:23:00 > 1:23:04I tell kids all time, I say, "Look, I don't care what you do,
1:23:04 > 1:23:07"if you find something that you enjoy, do it."
1:23:09 > 1:23:12A musician who predates even Brubeck is the great Jay McShann.
1:23:12 > 1:23:15He gave Charlie Parker his first job.
1:23:15 > 1:23:18McShann ran one of the wildest swing bands
1:23:18 > 1:23:20in the heyday of Kansas City in the '30s and '40s.
1:23:36 > 1:23:40And it's an amazing trick, that's all it is, it's just a trick.
1:23:40 > 1:23:44And I always say the way you find that out
1:23:44 > 1:23:47is you sit down to do something
1:23:47 > 1:23:52and you decide at eight o'clock in the morning, you sit down, "I'm going to do this."
1:23:52 > 1:23:56And you say, "I'm getting hungry." And you look up and it's eight o'clock at night.
1:23:56 > 1:24:00Then you say, that's what you should be doing the rest of your life.
1:24:04 > 1:24:06Yeah!
1:24:53 > 1:24:55Yeah!
1:24:57 > 1:24:59Bless you, thank you.
1:24:59 > 1:25:02Isn't that wonderful?
1:25:02 > 1:25:05- He's still got it. - That's beautiful, beautiful.
1:25:05 > 1:25:07That's historical.
1:25:09 > 1:25:14And if you're a musician like Dave, or other great musicians,
1:25:14 > 1:25:19you can do that at 90, depending on your talent.
1:25:19 > 1:25:22It's something you can do forever.
1:25:22 > 1:25:30The thing that I really admire about the Brubeck family is his wife,
1:25:30 > 1:25:35all these years, it's still,
1:25:35 > 1:25:43you come in and she's a beautiful flower in his dressing room.
1:25:43 > 1:25:45Recently, my wife,
1:25:45 > 1:25:52Iola, said, "Our 65th wedding anniversary's coming up.
1:25:52 > 1:26:00"You remember years ago you wrote a song just for me on our anniversary?"
1:26:01 > 1:26:04And I'm trying to remember it.
1:26:04 > 1:26:07So I'll give it a try.
1:26:07 > 1:26:10It's called "All My Love."
1:28:23 > 1:28:25Thank you.
1:28:25 > 1:28:28Ha-ha! Almost remembered it!
1:29:30 > 1:29:33Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd