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Dave Brubeck: 1920-2012

One day before he was to celebrate his 92nd birthday, jazz pioneer and legend, Dave Brubeck, passed away in a Norwalk, Connecticut hospital as a result of heart failure.

One day before he was to celebrate his 92nd birthday, jazz pioneer and legend, Dave Brubeck, passed away in a Norwalk, Connecticut hospital as a result of heart failure.

Rising to pop star status with recordings such as Take Five and Blue Rondo a la Turk, Brubeck continued to defy jazz conventions throughout his long and illustrious career by utilizing unusual time signatures and instrumentation.

Brubeck was only the second jazz musician to be featured on the cover of Time Magazine - the first being Louis Armstrong - in 1954, and his 1959 release, Time Out, charted at No. 2 on Billboard's pop albums chart.

Originally intended as an experiment in unconventional meter, Time Out's timing signatures of 9/8, 5/4, 3/4, and 6/4 were inspired by European folk music.

The album quickly went on to be certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

The popularity of the Brubeck Quartet, featuring Paul Desmond, Joe Morello, and Eugene Wright, peaked in the early 1960s as they released as many as four albums per year.

In 1994, Brubeck was awarded the National Medal of Arts by the National Endowment for the Arts, and was inducted into DownBeat Magazine's Hall of Fame.

He received the Grammy for Lifetime Achievement in 1996, the BBC Jazz Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007, was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in 2008, and was honoured by the Kennedy Centre in 2009.

To commemorate Brubeck's 90th birthday, Bruce Riker and actor, producer and director, Clint Eastwood, produced the documentary Dave Brubeck: In His Own Sweet Way, the same year he was presented with the Miles Davis Award at the Montreal International Jazz Festival.

Brubeck is survived by his wife Iona, and their five children.


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Donna Hopper

About the Author: Donna Hopper

Donna Hopper has been a photojournalist with SooToday since 2007, and her passion for music motivates her to focus on area arts, entertainment and community events.
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