Dave Brubeck Quartet in Philly on 3/16/05

[Ron S]

Just got tickets for this concert at Verizon Hall of the Kimmel Center, home of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Sort of a '63 Carnegie Hall redux? Should be great to see both of these legends (Brubeck and McPartland) in one show. Anyone else going?

[Guest ariceffron]

DAMN THATS AWESOME IM HAPPY BRUBECKS STILL ROCKIN EVEN IN '05. I HAVENT SEEN HIM SINCE THE EARLY 00'S IN SEATTLE (ONE OF THE BEST CONCERTS IVE SEEN OF HIS)

-- WHENS HE GONNA DO ANOTHER ORCH. PROJECT?? I WANNA SEE THE DBQ + ORCHESTRA SO BAD

[alankin]

I hope I'm still doing that well at their age! (84 and 86 years old, respectively.)

[Ron S]

I hope I'm still doing ANYTHING at their age.

[sheldonm]

I hope I'm still doing ANYTHING at their age.

Sounds like a great show; wish I could make it!

Mark

[Ron S]

I hope I'm still doing ANYTHING at their age.

Sounds like a great show; wish I could make it!

Mark

Southwest has some great fares from Indianapolis to Philly. And you could arrange to take some photos of Dave and Marian--I'll carry your equipment (and I'll bet we could get Alan Lankin to help).

[sheldonm]

I hope I'm still doing ANYTHING at their age.

Sounds like a great show; wish I could make it!

Mark

Southwest has some great fares from Indianapolis to Philly. And you could arrange to take some photos of Dave and Marian--I'll carry your equipment (and I'll bet we could get Alan Lankin to help).

If it were a weekend I would seriously consider it; the mid week gig is tough for me to do. I appreciate the offer to schlepp my equipment. I may be visiting Philly this summer to take in a ball game, maybe we can hook up!

[Ron S]

I hope I'm still doing ANYTHING at their age.

Sounds like a great show; wish I could make it!

Mark

Southwest has some great fares from Indianapolis to Philly. And you could arrange to take some photos of Dave and Marian--I'll carry your equipment (and I'll bet we could get Alan Lankin to help).

If it were a weekend I would seriously consider it; the mid week gig is tough for me to do. I appreciate the offer to schlepp my equipment. I may be visiting Philly this summer to take in a ball game, maybe we can hook up!

Definitely! And maybe the Phillies will actually be winning! And as far as the offer to schlepp your equipment, I figured it was my best shot at actually getting to meet Dave and Marian.

[Jazz Kat]

Who's with him? Is this a reunion thing, with Gene and Joe?

[Ron S]

Who's with him? Is this a reunion thing, with Gene and Joe?

I don't think so. The info I've seen (here) just refers to the Dave Brubeck Quartet.

[Jazz Kat]

He's probaly got Bobby M. on alto, Randy Jackson on drums, and maybe his son on bass.

[Ron S]

Thanks once again to Alan's Jazzmatazz site , I now know who will be with Dave and Marian on 3/16:

w/Dave--Robert Militello (sax, flute), Michael Moore (bass), Randy Jones (drums)

w/Marian (apparently as a trio, even though the tickets and the Kimmel Center say duo!)--Gary Mazzaroppi (bass), Glen Davis (drums)

[Free For All]

I saw Marion recently and was very disappointed. She obviously hadn't done much playing with the bassist and drummer, and the performance was quite tentative. In addition Marion, who I love on her radio show, sounded really weak. I can certainly overlook the physical limitations/chops issues given her age, but my main beef was that she was just calling tunes and the format for each tune was indentical- head, piano solo, bass solo, drum solo, head. There were NO arrangements, no tight trio playing. Given the cost of tickets, it was a drag.

I would have rather she just talked about her life, about Jimmy and shared anecdotes from the radio show.

Still love the woman, though.

[Jazz Kat]

Joe Morello talked to me about her a lot. I have her Live At Shanghai Jazz. You like that? I thought there were about 5 good songs on it. It was kind of a bore.

[Ron S]

Joe Morello talked to me about her a lot.

You know Joe Morello?

[Ron S]

Nice article from today's Philadelphia Inquirer in anticipation of tonight's concert:

Posted on Wed, Mar. 16, 2005

Always branching out, Dave Brubeck plays on

The jazz legend, at the Kimmel tonight, reminds that he's also not bad at classical and ballet.

By Annette John-Hall

Inquirer Staff Writer

'What do you know about my music?" Dave Brubeck asks. He's calling from Sanibel Island, Fla., where he and Iola Brubeck, his wife of 62 years, escape from the harsh Connecticut winters every year.

Well, you answer, trying not to sound too intimidated, that he's known for his harmonic convergence of keys and complex time signatures; that the Dave Brubeck Quartet's "Take Five" is considered a jazz masterpiece; that he's been at this jazz thing for a long, long time.

All true, the venerable pianist replies. But did you know that he wrote a musical called The Real Ambassadors in 1962 that featured Carmen McRae, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, and Louis Armstrong, and was performed only once, at the Monterey Jazz Festival? That he's composed and performed sacred music with the Vienna Philharmonic and the London Symphony orchestras? That he's written "Points on Jazz," a ballet for the American Ballet Theatre?

The diverse artistry is, to borrow the title from one of his albums, essential Brubeck. And all of it springs out of the jazz idiom.

Still working at a hearty 84, Brubeck performs 80 concerts a year. He appears tonight with his quartet at the Kimmel Center, along with the Marian McPartland Trio, which yesterday released the album 85 Candles: Live in New York, from McPartland's 2003 birthday concert.

Most musicians Brubeck's age would be rereading their memoirs. He hasn't written his yet, but that's the next thing on Iola's agenda, bless her collaborative heart.

"She's been working every day on it," Brubeck says of his spouse, who has over the years doubled as his agent, manager and lyricist. "That's what we do, work. We even work on the weekends."

Backed by Robert Militello on saxophone and flute, Michael Moore on bass, and Randy Jones on drums, Brubeck says he'll play a tune or two from his new album, London Flat, London Sharp, due out on Telarc next month. He may play a bit of classical stuff. But the one piece he's sure to do is "Take Five," the million-seller penned in 1959 by Paul Desmond, Brubeck's alto saxman, that has come to define Brubeck's music.

"We play it differently every time we play it," says Brubeck. "So I never get tired of playing it. That's the beauty of jazz."

He grew up in Concord, Calif., and learned classical piano from his mother. He would memorize Bach and Beethoven to appease her, but jazz was his love.

"Del Courtney had a dance band that was well known in the San Francisco area. His band once rehearsed in our home, and my brother played the drums. So I was exposed to jazz as a teenager."

Influenced by Teddy Wilson ("he played so wonderfully as a soloist"), McPartland ("harmonically, she's wonderful and still inventive"), and Art Tatum ("he's the greatest and always will be"), Brubeck studied music at the College of the Pacific in Stockton, now known as the University of the Pacific. Then he went off to World War II, where he led a service band.

Though he is a contemporary of Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Gil Evans, and other purveyors of the cool, airy sound known as West Coast jazz, Brubeck's music didn't quite fit that category, says Dan Morgenstern, director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University. "West Coast jazz was much more dainty, more arranged, like jazz chamber music," he says. "Dave was much more intrepid."

While any player worth his Lucky Strikes and porkpie hat was being influenced by the hard-charging bebop that permeated the scene during the late '40s and '50s, Brubeck's quartet experimented with syncopated rhythms, unusual time signatures, and two-tone harmonies, accentuated by Brubeck's and Desmond's long, moody solos.

Iola Brubeck came up with the idea to showcase the group on college campuses as well as traditional jazz venues. Brubeck gained even more popularity, and in 1954 landed on the cover of Time magazine.

Critics who initially praised him knocked him for being too commercial. Nevertheless, Brubeck "probably brought more people into the music than anybody I can think of, with the possible exception of Erroll Garner," Morgenstern says. "For some reason or other his music connects with people."

It continues to connect. The Dave Brubeck Institute, at the University of the Pacific, contains a large musical collection - "every scrap of paper my wife ever saved," he says. The institute hosts the Dave Brubeck Festival, an eight-day musical extravaganza, that has been a Northern California staple for four years.

Brubeck, who bounced back nicely from heart bypass surgery in 2000, continues a grueling touring schedule, though for the first time he turned down trips to Australia and Japan.

"That's a long haul, even on a jet plane," he explains.

Nevertheless, he is already looking forward to his 85th-birthday celebration in December, when he'll perform with the London Symphony Orchestra.

But the innovative pianist won't be flying abroad. He'll be chilling, traveling easy, taking the luxury liner the Queen Mary with his wife and four sons.

[Ron S]

Saw this concert last night--excellent.

Marian McPartland appeared a bit frail (had to be assisted on and off stage) and hunched over (osteoperosis, I'd guess), but played wonderfully with some marvelous, witty, and topical banter (e.g., she dedicated Chick Corea's "Windows" to Bill Gates). She played an exceptionally diverse program of 9 songs, including Corea's "Windows", Ornette Coleman's "Ramblin'" (a real crowd-pleaser), a marvelous arrangement of "All the Things You Are" that included some wonderful fugue-like passages (another crowd-pleaser), a Bix Beiderbecke piece that she said Bix had taught to her husband Jimmy McPartland and Jimmy had taught to her, a Dave Brubeck song (which she said she cleared with him before the show to make sure he hadn't also planned to play it!), and one of her own compositions. And get this--the woman will have her 87th birthday in a few days. It was a terrific set that was well-appreciated by the audience, which gave her a well-deserved standing ovation.

Dave Brubeck was also great, despite his obvious frailty at 84. He received a standing ovation before he even started playing, and then played 7 songs. These included a piece he recently wrote inspired by a UK tour last year, entitled "London Flat, London Sharp," which will be on a CD he has coming out shortly. He also played another song he says he wrote on the flight down to Washington to record an episode of "Piano Jazz" with Marian McPartland entitled, believe it or not, "Marian McPartland." He had the audience repeat her name over and over leading into his intro to the song, which consisted of musical phrases with a rhythm sounding like her name. His sixth (and "official" set-ending) piece was, of course, "Take 5," with a great long drum solo. After another standing ovation, the quartet came out for one encore. In total, he played for about an hour and a half. His sidemen--all with hair as white as his--were also great.

As I left the concert, it occurred to me that I will deem myself extremely fortunate if I still am able to even ATTEND a concert such as this when--and if--I reach my 80's, let alone have the stamina, agility, and mental presence necessary to PERFORM it. These two should inspire us all.

[ejp626]

Brubeck has an entire album of songs based around musicians' names. It's on Concord, but I can't remember the title. Some work, some don't.

I've seen him twice. Once was so-so, once was very good last year, where he also played the London Flat piece.

Yes, I also hope I am even able to attend concerts at that advanced age.

[Chalupa]

Not sure if this post merits its own thread so I thought I put it in here...

I saw the McCoy Tyner Trio on Friday night at the Gershman Y at Broad & Pine. McCoy was backed by Charnet Moffett on bass and Lewis Nash on drums. It was basically the same concert that I saw two years when he had Moffett and Eric Rawlands on drums. However, I enjoyed this one a little better because, for me, I find Nash's drumming to a better fit for McCoy. Less bashing more finess. Charnett Moffett was out of control. He was taking some insane solos - in one instance he was slapping his upright like it was an electric bass.

Best part of the evening.....

The band had just returned to the stage for an encore when a little old African American woman walked up to the stage using a cane. McCoy recognized her right away and they hugged and talked for a minute. Then McCoy said,"this is my 8th grade music teacher and she wants to know if it would be okay if she played a song'. Polite applause. The woman(I didn't catch her name unfortunately) then proceeds to sit down and start wailing in a stride paino style. Fingers are flying everywhere. At the end of the number she stands up, walks over to McCoy, grabs the mic and says,"Not bad for a 97 year old woman!"

The whole theater erupted with laughter and gave her a standing ovation.

After the show I stood outside with my friend as he had a cigarette. As we watched the crowd disperse I saw more than one person shake their head and mutter, "97 years old!!"

Indeed.

Edited April 11, 2005 by Chalupa