Scene - Blogs - An afternoon with Dave Brubeck

An afternoon with Dave Brubeck
Published: 12/7/2012 6:31 PM
Last Modified: 12/7/2012 6:31 PM

It would show up regularly in my mailbox at the Tulsa World -- the Dave Brubeck Quartet Newsletter, chronicling the seemingly inexhaustible Brubeck as he traveled the world making music.

I ended up on the mailing list in 1994, after I had the chance to spend the better part of an afternoon in Brubeck's company. He was in town to perform at the Jazz on Greenwood festival, and had graciously consented to what was supposed to be a 15-minute interview.

We ended up talking for nearly 90 minutes, and when I mentioned the time, and how I knew he had other commitments to attend, Brubeck would simply give me a broad grin and wave one of his capacious hands -- hands that gave him a reach across the keyboard that few pianists could match -- and say, "Oh, I'm having a great time."

I remember how animated he became when I mentioned how much I liked a tune from what was then his latest album. "I so want my wife to write some words for `Who Will Take Care of Me?' " he said. "I think that tune just cries out for lyrics. There are so many singers I can just hear singing that song."

When I spoke with Brubeck, he was 73. He would continue on for two more decades. His death on Wednesday was the day before his 92nd birthday.

In our conversation, he said, "I don't even like to think of stopping.
I'd be bored to death otherwise. You see, the most fun for me in the world is playing and writing music - especially writing. And you have to fight for the time to do these things."

Brubeck definitely made the time. He was as prolific a composer as he was a tireless performer, capable of taking avant-garde concepts and transforming them into music that had the immediacy and accessibility of a pop songs without compromising its complexity.

He also wrote a good deal of sacred music, such as the Christmas choral work "La Fiesta de la Posada," which Tulsa's Signature Symphony has performed in the past, or "The Gates of Justice," which a local church had performed a few months prior to our conversation.

"Yes, I heard about that," Brubeck said at the time. "For some reason, there were about three performances of `The Gates of Justice' within the
space of about a month last year. One was put together by a Catholic church in St. Paul, done with three choirs - one from the Catholic church, one from the black community and one from the Jewish community. Which is wonderful, because that was why that piece was written, to try and bring people together during those years of turmoil."

Brubeck returned to Tulsa two years later, performing with the Signature Symphony at the Brady Theater. That concert included the premiere of a piece Brubeck had finished just days before, which I described this way:

"It was the Chorale movement from a work for string orchestra, and it was breathtaking. It called to mind Barber's Adagio for Strings, but with some profound. Brubeck's Chorale opens the same sort of simmering
tension, with the violins and violas crafting a soft, flowing melody atop an agitated rhythmic figure in the low strings. But whereas the Barber ends with a sense of despair and loss, Brubeck's Chorale resolves into a kind of poignant sweetness, a peace not of desolation by of profound hope. Again, the turning point is Brubeck's forceful piano solo, which built into a series of thunderclap chords, like questions shouted at sky. And the answer came in a soothing melody from the strings. If this was just one movement, then personally I can hardly wait to hear the complete work."

Toward the end of our conversation Brubeck talked briefly about what "retirement" might be for him.

"What I'd like to be able to do would be to spend my mornings writing music, then spend the afternoons being human," Brubeck said with a smile. "You know, spending time with my family, my children and grandchildren. That would be the sort of `retirement' I could live with."

The truth is, Dave Brubeck spent his whole life being human -- using his music to touch, to celebrate, to strengthen, to soothe, all the things that are best about the human being. That is why he will be so greatly missed.

Reader Comments

2 Total

Show: Newest First

Learn About Our Comment Policy

ClanJoyWalkSig (2 months ago)

You are living a rich life, James. Precious time with a master... but he was enjoying your company equally so... doesn't get much better than that, does it?

DomoArrigato (2 months ago)

Many the hour, have I sat and listened to Dave Brubeck and his Jazz...I guess I probably measure all Jazz groups against Dave Brubeck and his music...Thanks Dave, and I know that the streets of heaven are now wrapped in your sweet music.

2 comments displayed

To post comments on tulsaworld.com, you must be an active Tulsa World print or digital subscriber and signed into your account.

To sign in to your account, go to tulsaworld.com/signin.
To activate your print subscription for unlimited digital access and to post comments, go to tulsaworld.com/activate.
To purchase a subscription, go to tulsaworld.com/subscribe.

ARTS

James D. Watts Jr. has lived in Oklahoma for most his life, even though he still has people saying to him, "Don't sound like you're from around these parts." A University of Oklahoma Phi Beta Kappa graduate, Watts has received the Governor Arts Award, Harwelden Award and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Beth Macklin Award for his writing. Before coming to the Tulsa World, Watts worked for the Tulsa Tribune.

Contact him at (918) 581-8478.

Subscribe to this blog

2/15/2013		'Concept/OK' exhibit ends Saturday
2/14/2013		Symphony to host piano soloist
2/14/2013		Broadway tours bring 'Shrek,' improv musical to Tulsa area this weekend
2/14/2013		Arts roundup: Improv reigns at several upcoming theater events
2/14/2013		'Lion King' returns to Tulsa PAC June 4
2/12/2013		Review: Signature Symphony reprises '100 Years of Oklahoma Music'
2/11/2013		Tulsa Symphony's concert salutes diverse American music
2/10/2013		Cherokee artist weaves messages into baskets
2/10/2013		Tesla Quartet set for Tulsa residency next week with variety of activities
2/10/2013		Jim Murphy wins 2013 Anne Zarrow Award
2/10/2013		LBJ chronicler Robert Caro to speak at TU on Tuesday
2/9/2013		Theater review: Playhouse makes "Barefoot in the Park" believable

2/2013	1/2013	12/2012	11/2012	10/2012	9/2012
8/2012	7/2012	6/2012	5/2012	4/2012	3/2012
2/2012	1/2012	12/2011	11/2011	10/2011	9/2011
8/2011	7/2011	6/2011	5/2011	4/2011	3/2011
2/2011	1/2011	12/2010	11/2010	10/2010	9/2010
8/2010	7/2010	6/2010	5/2010	4/2010	3/2010
2/2010	1/2010	12/2009	11/2009	10/2009	9/2009
8/2009	7/2009	6/2009	5/2009	4/2009	3/2009
2/2009	1/2009	12/2008	11/2008	10/2008	9/2008
8/2008	7/2008	6/2008	5/2008	4/2008

Your bookmark will appear on your Profile page. Please give it a title, and short description so that visitors to your page will understand where the bookmark leads.
Bookmark Title :

Bookmark Text :