There was a deeply spiritual side of him, and he had an affinity toward the Catholic Church, even though his true religion was the church of jazz.īrubeck and his wife were married for 70 years. He wrote catchy little jazz numbers, as well as complicated orchestral and choral works. There are dozens, if not hundreds of tunes that have yet to be recorded. He wrote music every day of his life – every single day.
I got to know Brubeck fairly well late in his life and spent time with him and his remarkable wife, Iola, at their winter home in Florida. Even if he hadn’t played a tune in decades, he could still call it up at a moment’s notice and play it in full, and with the improvised variations that are the hallmark of jazz.īrubeck was a humble guy who, even after traveling the world and living in Connecticut for more than 50 years, still seemed to retain the aw-shucks aura of a cowboy from an earlier, more rural time. Once a tune was in his head, it never left. Never comfortable reading music off the page, Brubeck gravitated toward jazz and learned tunes by the old-fashioned way of the bandstand: by ear. He grew up as a cowboy in Northern California – his father was a champion roper – and took an interest in music early in life. He deserves to be remembered as not just a jazz original but as an American original. “Time Out,” which contains half a dozen other tunes equally as original and exciting as “Take Five,” broke musical boundaries but still manages to be, after all these years, accessible, lyrical and timeless.īrubeck died today at 91, just one day before his 92nd birthday. View Photo Gallery: Jazz pioneer Dave Brubeck dies at 91.