John De Haan Dave Brubeck & Cl - Brubecksongs [CD]

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Dave Brubeck (b. 1920)SongsMost of us are familiar with only one of the two DaveBrubecks. The most familiar is the jazz legend, thefather and icon of West Coast 'cool jazz', and founder ofthe Dave Brubeck Quartet. Less well known, however,is the Dave Brubeck who studied with Darius Milhaud(1892-1974), one of the founders of Les Six, who taughtat Mills College after fleeing Nazi-occupied France.'Milhaud was a genius beyond genius', says Brubeck,'he had an open house every Thursday night, and he'dwant us to come and jam. . .'. Milhaud, with his LaCreation du monde (1923) was one of the firstcomposers to bridge the gap between jazz and concertmusic. It was natural that Dave Brubeck follow suit,only along the way Brubeck's monumental jazz careerovershadowed the other aspect of his musical output.From the jazz classic Strange Meadowlark to thetwelve-tone inspired settings of Langston Hughes' HoldFast to Dreams, to the pop sound of Once When I WasVery Young..., one is aware of Dave Brubeck's gift as ashaper of melodic line. Brubeck's keen understanding ofthe classical relationship of text and music is apparentthroughout this recording. In addition to setting his ownand Langston Hughes' texts to music, he uses the wordsof Iola Brubeck, his wife of 63 years, and their sonMichael to equally stunning effect.Dave Brubeck's command of seemingly disparateand dissimilar musical styles is not only impressive andunique, but also well known. Perhaps less well known ishis ability to utilise twelve-tone technique on a songsuch as So Lonely, a technique that in his masterfulhands produces the musical effect of a softly soulful jazzsong.I first met Dave Brubeck on 11th April, 2002, mybirthday, at a University of the Pacific concert in whichI sang his settings of Hold Fast to Dreams and DreamKeeper (ironically, at the same concert hall where hefirst set eyes on Iola). After the concert, he asked me,'Was that twelve-tone writing?' I just laughed,remarking that it certainly took me a long time to learn.He responded only with a wicked smile and a twinkle inhis eye. This is the quintessential Dave Brubeck ... loverof life, music and family. About a week after thatconcert, I began receiving a steady stream of DaveBrubeck songs in my mailbox and the idea for thisrecording was born.With this recording we are hearing the originalversion of The Dream Keeper, heretofore known only asa composition for four-part chorus. In fact Dave hadoriginally set Langston Hughes' moving andinspirational text as a duet. In So Lonely, Dave Brubeckbegins with a lone vocal line, later joined by the pianoand a second voice, ultimately forming a beautifullymeandering - almost living - fabric of sound. Theflowing, unfolding music of Dave Brubeck, togetherwith the moving Langston Hughes texts, seems toconjure a picture of people moving together through thislife toward a common goal.The centrepiece of this recording is theunaccompanied Tao, borrowed from The Futility ofContention of the Tao te Ching,

All My Love

Strange Meadowlark

Things You Never Remember

So Lonely

Don't Forget Me

There'll Be No Tomorrow

Time Of Our Madness

Tao

Final Curve/Search

Dream Dust/Hold Fast To Dreams

Hold Fast To Dreams

Dream Keeper

Day After Day

Once When I Was Very Young