RIP Dave Brubeck

Jazz great Dave Brubeck passed away today at the age of 91.  He is best known for forming the Dave Brubeck Quartet, which got its start in the early 50s.  Their seminal album, Time Out, came out to rave reviews in 1959 and amazingly charted at #2 on the Billboard pop album charts.  The biggest hit of the record, "Take Five," had almost immediate success with audiences.

Brubeck was known for the incorporation of polyrythms and key signatures -- 9/8 in his famous Blue Rondo a la Turk -- that were mainly unknown to Jazz.  His improvisational skills were legendary as Jazz legend Ramsey Lewis, co-headlining with Brubeck's quartet during an early tour, said that he never heard Brubeck play the same song the same way.

Here are few of his greatest hits, starting with Blue Rondo:

And "Strange Meadowlark," my favorite Dave Brubeck piece, from Time Out:

"It's a Raggy Waltz" live at Carnegie Hall in 1963:

Later in life, Brubeck joined the Roman Catholic Church, during which time he wrote several masses and oratorios, reflecting his new faith.  He was a Kennedy Center Honoree in September of 2009, where his sons, among other musicians, played a medley of his works:

I saw Dave Brubeck and his quartet play some years back at Severance Hall in Cleveland.  Even at the advanced age he was, his musicianship was phenomenal; his fingers seemed to be moving across the keys as well as ever.

He and his music will be missed.

UPDATE:  Matt Schudel of the Washington Post has a very well done obituary of Brubeck.  The focus on Brubeck's rejection of segregation is very important to note.