Dave Brubeck

Unsquare Dance.  LOVE this song.

One of my very, absolute favorite pianists* and composers passed away yesterday.  Dave Brubeck, known mostly for Take Five, was a musical genius and innovator.

Often musicians, jazz musicians in the 60s for sure, are known for addictions, hard living and tragedies.  But one thing that stood out when I watched a documentary on him a few years back was that he was happy.  He was a devoted family man and his career was both successful and fun.  Also, like a lot of musicians, he was at the forefront of social change, rejecting the racism of the day by having a mixed race band and refusing to play in clubs that wouldn't allow all of the members of his band in.

One of the things I love about his music and his life is how much he enjoyed both.  There is real joy and happiness that comes through the melodies and unusual time signatures.  When I auditioned for a summer jazz camp, the song I chose to play was Blue Rondo a la Turk - it was a natural transition for a classical pianist trying to move into jazz because of the elegant technicality that cradled his quirky rhythms and one-of-a-kind scales.

I'm glad he lived a full, happy life (he was 91, would have been 92 today) but I will always wish he could've stayed around forever.

Rest in peace, Mr. Brubeck.  Thank you for your inspiration and exuberance.

*I actually wrote about him in this post here.

I Love A Piano...

My songwriting is very influenced by the songwriters that all emerged in a similar era- Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, etc. My piano-style, therefore, has to corollate... As I took a break from trying to record a rough of a brand new song with a complicated stride pattern, I daydreamed about pianists whose piano talents I would love to have:

Harry Connick, Jr.

Many know him as a crooner or leading man, but his first claim was New Orleans piano style. The thing that amazes me about him is his casual touch of the keys, like he's so familiar with every sound of every note, he can play breathtaking piano in the same offhand manner in which we hum while we do the dishes. Check him out playing Sweet Georgia Brown. I love what he does around 1:40. Crazy.

Randy Newman:

His playing is soulful and rich- who needs a backup orchestra when you can play like that? I couldn't really find a song of his on YouTube that did his piano style justice but his Randy Newman Songbook V1 is all just his voice and the piano. I Think It's Going to Rain Today is heartbreaking in the best possible way.

Dave Brubeck: Under his amazing (and quite large) hands, the piano becomes something wild and unpredictable- it can be playful and flirtatious or heavy and percussive. I've attempted arrangements of his and I think I need to add a couple fingers.

Love his Three To Get Ready. Unsquare Dance is delicious too but it actually has relatively little piano.

Thelonious Monk: Monk is to piano what da Vinci is to art, what Pixar is to animation, what Bobby Flay is to grilling. This song is pure joy,