Dan Brubeck Celebrating the Music & Lyrics
of Dave & Iola Brubeck On his brilliantly realized new album Celebrating
the Music and Lyrics of Dave & Iola Brubeck, drummer Dan Brubeck introduces
his parents' remarkable and surprisingly little-known songbook. The second
youngest of Dave and Iola Brubeck's six children, Dan has an extensive history
of performing and recording alongside his famous pianist father Dave Brubeck
and had long wanted to explore some of the songs and textual settings that his
parents collaborated on over the years. The 2-CD set, which happens to be Dan's
recording debut as a leader, will be released by Blue Forest Records on April
28.
"Some
of these songs could be classified as 'standards,'" he notes, "but
most people have never heard them with Iola's lyrics. Many of these songs have
rarely been heard at all."
"In
Your Sweet Way" is the track that opens the album, and as with many of the
pieces that follow, Iola wrote the lyrics specifically for a jazz legend
(Carmen McRae). Iola, who died last year at the age of 90, contributed incisive
insider commentary about the songs for the album's liner notes. Dave Brubeck
passed in 2012 at the age of 91.
The
opportunity to pursue the project arose unexpectedly with some of the finest
jazz players in the Vancouver, BC area, including saxophonist Steve Kaldestad,
pianist Tony Foster, and bassist/vocalist Adam Thomas. "These are the guys
who had good chemistry and we stuck together," says Brubeck, 59, a
longtime resident of British Columbia.
Brubeck
made the serendipitous discovery that his bassist was the perfect vocalist for
this material. "He was completely in tune," Dan says of hearing
Thomas's singing for the first time, "phrasing beautifully with a soulful
sweetness, all while swinging his ass off on bass. When the quartet had a gig
we just set up mics in the Cellar, which is tiny and intimate. I was just
amazed when I listened back to what we got."
Thomas's
most impressive feat is the easygoing authority he brings to interpreting songs
the Brubecks created with Louis Armstrong in mind. He swings joyfully on
"Since Love Had Its Way," and wrings every wistful drop from the
masterpiece "Summer Song," an intoxicating draught of song that has
unaccountably remained uncovered until this year (both songs were introduced by
Satchmo in the Brubecks' politically astute jazz musical The Real Ambassadors).
Adding to the poignancy of "Summer Song" is the fact that the chorus
serves as Dave and Iola's epitaph.
"I
don't think anyone's done it besides Louis until now," Dan says. "For
them that song had a lot of special meaning. I think Carmen was supposed to
sing it but Louis heard it and that was that."
The
quartet doesn't avoid the best-known numbers, offering memorable versions of
the oft-interpreted "Blue Rondo a la Turk" and Paul Desmond and Iola
Brubeck's enduring hit "Take Five." But digging deep into the catalog
yields one unexpected gem after another. Thomas hits just the right plaintive
tone on the minor blues "Lord, Lord," a piece from Brubeck's suite
The Gates of Justice. And "Strange Meadowlark" is another superlative
piece that, like "Summer Song," could easily become a standard (it's
got a good start with recordings by Carmen McRae, Frederica von Stade, and
Hilary Cole).
Dan Brubeck Born in Oakland on May 4, 1955,
Dan Brubeck was a highly energetic child who found his calling at the trap set.
Mentored by two consummate polyrhythmic masters, Joe Morello and Alan Dawson
(at the Berklee College of Music), he was working professionally before he
finished his teens. Over the years Dan was featured on nearly a dozen albums
with his father, and toured widely with the Dave Brubeck Quartet, including
many appearances with the world's leading orchestras. He's been an integral
part of the various Brubeck bands, including the Darius Brubeck Ensemble, Two
Generations of Brubeck, and the New Brubeck Quartet. He's toured
internationally and recorded three widely played albums with his electric jazz
group, The Dolphins, and co-led the Brubeck LaVerne Trio with his brother Chris
and pianist Andy LaVerne. Dan has also toured with acts ranging from The Band
and David Benoit to Gerry Mulligan and Paul Desmond, and has recorded with jazz
guitar legend Larry Coryell, singer/songwriter Livingston Taylor, jazz/pop
singer Michael Franks, and pioneering blues guitarist Roy Buchanan.
Dan
continues to perform and record with his siblings -- Chris Brubeck, a bassist,
trombonist, and noted composer, in the Brubeck Brothers Quartet, and
pianist/composer Darius Brubeck in Brubecks Play Brubeck -- when he's not playing
with his Vancouver band.
The
Dan Brubeck Quartet will be appearing at the following venues, with additional
dates in the works: 8/1 Kaslo (BC) Jazz Festival, 7pm; 8/15 The Red Deer
Symphony Orchestra's Evening of Jazz at The Lake, Red Deer, Alberta; 9/18 Jazz
n Caz, Cazenovia (NY) College Jazz Festival; 9/19 Universal Preservation Hall,
Saratoga Springs, NY; 9/20 Weir Farm, Wilton, CT.
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