track 1. Theme from "Mr. Broadway":
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 2. Broadway Bossa Nova:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 3. Autumn In Washington Square:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 4. Something To Sing About:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 5. Sixth Sense:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 6. Spring In Central Park:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 7. Lonely Mr. Broadway:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 8. Summer On The Sound:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 9. Winter Ballad:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 10. Broadway Romance:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 11. Upstairs Rumba:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 1. Theme from "Mr. Broadway":
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 2. Broadway Bossa Nova:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 3. Autumn In Washington Square:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 4. Something To Sing About:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 5. Sixth Sense:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 6. Spring In Central Park:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 7. Lonely Mr. Broadway:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 8. Summer On The Sound:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 9. Winter Ballad:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 10. Broadway Romance:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 11. Upstairs Rumba:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 1. Theme from "Mr. Broadway":
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 2. Broadway Bossa Nova:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 3. Autumn In Washington Square:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 4. Something To Sing About:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 5. Sixth Sense:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 6. Spring In Central Park:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 7. Lonely Mr. Broadway:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 8. Summer On The Sound:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 9. Winter Ballad:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 10. Broadway Romance:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 11. Upstairs Rumba:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 1. Theme from "Mr. Broadway":
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 2. Broadway Bossa Nova:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 3. Autumn In Washington Square:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 4. Something To Sing About:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 5. Sixth Sense:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 6. Spring In Central Park:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 7. Lonely Mr. Broadway:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 8. Summer On The Sound:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 9. Winter Ballad:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 10. Broadway Romance:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 11. Upstairs Rumba:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 1. Theme from "Mr. Broadway":
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 2. Broadway Bossa Nova:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 3. Autumn In Washington Square:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 4. Something To Sing About:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 5. Sixth Sense:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 6. Spring In Central Park:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 7. Lonely Mr. Broadway:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 8. Summer On The Sound:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 9. Winter Ballad:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 10. Broadway Romance:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 11. Upstairs Rumba:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 1. Theme from "Mr. Broadway":
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 2. Broadway Bossa Nova:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 3. Autumn In Washington Square:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 4. Something To Sing About:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 5. Sixth Sense:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 6. Spring In Central Park:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 7. Lonely Mr. Broadway:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 8. Summer On The Sound:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 9. Winter Ballad:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 10. Broadway Romance:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 11. Upstairs Rumba:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 1. Theme from "Mr. Broadway":
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 2. Broadway Bossa Nova:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 3. Autumn In Washington Square:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 4. Something To Sing About:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 5. Sixth Sense:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 6. Spring In Central Park:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 7. Lonely Mr. Broadway:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 8. Summer On The Sound:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 9. Winter Ballad:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 10. Broadway Romance:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 11. Upstairs Rumba:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 1. Theme from "Mr. Broadway":
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 2. Broadway Bossa Nova:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 3. Autumn In Washington Square:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 4. Something To Sing About:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 5. Sixth Sense:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 6. Spring In Central Park:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 7. Lonely Mr. Broadway:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 8. Summer On The Sound:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 9. Winter Ballad:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 10. Broadway Romance:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 11. Upstairs Rumba:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 1. Theme from "Mr. Broadway":
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 2. Broadway Bossa Nova:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 3. Autumn In Washington Square:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 4. Something To Sing About:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 5. Sixth Sense:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 6. Spring In Central Park:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 7. Lonely Mr. Broadway:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 8. Summer On The Sound:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 9. Winter Ballad:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 10. Broadway Romance:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

track 11. Upstairs Rumba:
(Brubeck)
Summer 1964 in New York

Jazz Impressions Of New York
(music from the CBS television series "Mr Broadway")

Dave Brubeck

"...although the television series for which these 11 songs were written ('Mr. Broadway'), has been long forgotten, Brubeck & Desmond & Morello & Wright deliver a lasting tribute to the Big Apple. Recorded 40 years before the World Trade Center collapse, the musical quality & workmanship of JAZZ IMPRESSIONS OF NEW YORK garantee it a place for at least another 40 years, when all those 'obligatory post 9-11 tribute albums' will be just as forgotten as the 'Mr. Broadway' TV show is today..."

Columbia Records
[CS 9075]
LP art direction - Allen Weinberg

piano - Dave Brubeck
alto sax - Paul Desmond
drums - Joe Morello
bass - Eugene Wright

producer - Teo Macero

_____When I was first approached to write music for a television series, I was reluctant to become involved in a medium unfamiliar to me. I did not want to write fragmented themes and hours of cues which did not develop into tunes.

_____Musical producer Robert Israel assured me that I could approach "Mr. Broadway" much as I had approached such albums as "Jazz Impressions of Eurasia", "U.S.A.", and "Japan", and that I should feel free to write full-length tunes from which cues and other background material could be developed. Once involved, I got carried away with the project and wrote enough material for several record albums, and for "Jazz Impressions Of New York" we have selected those themes which we consider best suited for development by The Quartet.

_____My assignment, basically, was to capture the rhythm and atmosphere of New York City. But there were specific musical problems too.

_____Task Number 1 : Theme music. How do you portray in 40 seconds the urbane personality of Mr. Broadway (Craig Stevens), and at the same time write a signature that is immediately recognizable as Brubeck? I decided on a basic polyrhythmic approach to "Theme from Mr. Broadway" because The Quartet has been long identified with the jazz waltz and unusual time signatures. Also, inherent in multiple rhythms is an inner pull which creates conflict and dramatic excitement on a sophisticated level. Once settled upon this polyrhythmic approach to "Theme from Mr. Broadway", I wrote four different counter melodies related to it: an eery 12-tone melody, two blues themes, and a light-hearted baroque melody. These counter melodies played either alone or simultaneously with the original theme are the backbone of the television score. The two blues counterthemes are included in The Quartet version of "Theme from Mr. Broadway".

_____Throughout the music I tried to create a sense of the multiplicity and range of mood and action in the life of a New Yorker. There are, for example, four waltzes, "Autumn In Washington Square", "Winter Ballad", "Spring In Central Park", and "Summer On The Sound", which vary in mood, like the seasons, but which are linked by the common denominator of 3/4 time.

_____Various facets of the New York personality were another idea source. Seeing in Mr. Broadway the essence of urbanity, sometimes sentimental, sometimes tough, occasionally romantic or suave as the occasion demands, these characteristics are sketched in various pieces. "Broadway Basso Nova", cool and sophisticated; "Lonely Mr. Broadway", at that hour of quiet between club closing and crunching garbage trucks; and "Broadway Romance", as full of sentiment as romance in Indiana.

_____Certain tunes, to be sure, are derived from specific scenes and situations. Garson Kanin's lyric, for example, suggested "Something To Sing About", which was the title song for the "Mr. Broadway" episode starring Lauren Bacall. The intuitive sleuthing quality of "Mr. Broadway" (sometime detective) is the point of reference for "Sixth Sense", a sort of musical pun in that the tune is based on a series of major and minor sixths.

_____The exciting and sometimes frenetic pace of Manhattan life is conjured up in "Upstage Rumba", which I conceived as an unusual combination of Latin rhythms and a 12-tone melody. But The Quartet version of this piece actually evolved in the studio when each person upstaged the other by unexpectedly doing something quite out of character. Paul Desmond (bio) surprised us first by making his debut on a bass marimba which had been left in the studio from a Latin bond session. Then, people come running out of the control booth and, in quite an uncontrollable manner, grabbed the nearest percussion instrument and began to play. My brother Howard was shaking some sort of cylindrical drum with BBs in it; John Lee, a drummer friend of Joe Morello (bio), played on Joe's tom-tom; and Teo Macero, our producer, was master of the claves until he dropped them at the end of the piece (which I consider a final stroke of upstage chicanery).

_____As you can imagine, music for the television series ran the gamut of emotions and moods from "horror" to "flippant," "romantic" to "violent," and are so described on studio worksheets. The locale assignments ranged from nightclubs to churches, Greenwich Village to Harlem, Japanese to Latin. Ideas come easily from every source - words, situations, places, characters - all stamped with the personality of The City itself. Together they form a concept which paints a musical backdrop for television's "Mr. Broadway". Extended, varied and developed as individual compositions by The Quartet, they become "Jazz Impressions Of New York".

( ..Dave Brubeck - 1964.. )

_____I first met Dave Brubeck in April, 1964. Dave come up to the music production office at Talent Associates - Paramount, Ltd. to discuss our then forthcoming CBS Television Network series "Mr. Broadway", starring Craig Stevens. The saga of the development and fruition of a new television series, or its demise, is an old tale by now. However, Dave's association with the "Mr. Broadway" project and the emergence of the incredible music that he wrote for the project does bear some retelling. I was at once struck by Dave's unreserved fascination and enthusiasm for the film media, which was totally new to him. Few film enthusiasts or television viewers realize the amount of anguish, creative sweat, and sheer physical labor involved in the months of preparation that goes into the making of a feature or a television series. Dave Brubeck is literally an endless source of melodic and rhythmic invention, and he applied his gifts to this project with a zeal that was truly overwhelming. Every characteristic of the series, from the suave leading man and his pert Japanese Girl Friday to the restless glamor of the city (in this case New York), came under his musical scrutiny. Melodies poured out of Dave, and working closely with him in the secluded quiet of his country home I continuously wondered at the seemingly endless flow of invention. Our biggest problem was to decide upon and select out of the many hours of ideas the finest material for the project. This collection represents a sampling of the music originally created for "Mr. Broadway". It stands on its own strength as pure Brubeck jazz. However, it also represents a new point of departure for Dave Brubeck as a jazz writer of original film music. It is my belief that long after our efforts are assigned to memory this music will be heard again and again.
( ..R.A. Israel - Series Music Director.. )

_____...the music for "Mr. Broadway" was an early and critical consideration in the conception of the program. We sought a modern sound that would truly compliment the sophisticated and pulsating beat that is so indigenous to New York. The choice of Dave Brubeck seems, in retrospect, to have been inevitable, but despite our united enthusiasm we could not have anticipated the enormous contribution of Dave Brubeck's music to "Mr. Broadway". The 'Brubeck signature' with its marvelous and insinuating cross-rhythms and wild flights of imagination has given new and distinctive dimension to our television series. He is a man of rare talent, vitality and poetry, and he has contributed all of this to "Mr. Broadway". I am proud of this music.

from Daniel Melnick...

_____...Dave captures just the right atmosphere of polished glass and steel of the accelerated, polychromatic city that Mike Bell, "Mr. Broadway", works in - and loves.

from Larry Arrick...

_____...few people realize just how much music means to a series, just how much it can contribute to or detract from the feel of a show. Needless to say, Dave Brubeck is a definite plus, and a more welcome and delightful plus would be hard to find.

Dave Brubeck: a bio

The Beginnings:

_____If Dave Brubeck was the atypical jazzman in the 50's, it was due to the unique route he took to stardom. Born in 1920 in Concord, California, Dave Brubeck's mother, a piano teacher herself, exposed him early to music. But while she was able to wean his two older brothers on her favoured classical music, she could never dissuade young Dave Brubeck from banging out his own selections and popular tunes, which he began doing when he was four. Despite (or maybe because of) the prevalence of musicians in the household (his brothers would later become dean of Palomar College and head of the Santa Barbara High School music department), Dave Brubeck didn't harbour dreams of becoming a professional musician - he wanted instead to become a rancher. With the family's move to a ranch in the foothills of the Sierras near Ione, California, when he was 11, Dave Brubeck became enamoured with life on the ranch and relished its daily chores. Dave Brubeck still enjoyed playing the piano, but to his mother's vocational overtures he responded: "...Ma, you've got two musicians: I want to be a cattleman..." By the time he was 15, he was playing weekend dances in Ione and the surrounding towns, but the schedule of being a musician - working between 8 at night until 4 in the morning - made the music profession decidedly unattractive.

College Years:
_____Dave Brubeck was reluctant to leave the ranch when he was 18, but his parents persuaded him to go the College of the Pacific in Stockton, California, by suggesting the possibility of his studying to become a veterinarian so that he could return to the ranch after school. The folly of that plan became apparent in his first year, as he spent more time during anatomy class staring across the lawn at the conservatory than taking notes, and, with the suggestion of his science department advisor, opted to switch to a music major after just one year. Dave Brubeck advanced through the curriculum with mainly raw talent, and could not, in fact, read music when he graduated. Coasting through his classes and playing six nights a week in jazz clubs, it wasn't until he met the dynamic Harold Meeske that his intellect was awakened and he was stirred by both the power of music and by a desire to be a composer. It was also in college that he met Iola Marie Whitlock, the director of a weekly campus radio show he played on, whom he asked to marry him two weeks after they met. They did. Dave Brubeck graduated from the College of the Pacific with his music degree in 1942 and was immediately drafted for service. His musical talents enabled him avoid abandoning his convictions against fighting in the war, though, as he spent two years in a camp band at Camp Haan in Southern California. He was eventually sent to Europe in 1944 as manpower shortages became acute and was slated to be sent to the front, but the intervention of a jazzophilic army officer kept Dave Brubeck travelling about Europe surreptitiously entertaining troops. He travelled to the front lines, but armed with a piano instead of a weapon.

Early Career:
_____When the war ended, he returned immediately to pursue his jazz aspirations, enrolling at Mills College under the GI Bill to study under French classical composer Darius Millhaud. Ironically, though, Darius Millhaud's tutelage, while training him in the elements of the classical idiom, actually reinforced his ardour for jazz. Although Darius Millhaud plied him with polytonality and counterpoint, he also told him: "...If you want to express this country, you will always use the jazz idiom..." Indeed, although popularly held opinion asserts that Dave Brubeck was well-trained in the classics and sought primarily to fuse classical music and modern jazz, this is in fact erroneous as he received scant formal training in the classics even under Darius Millhaud and sought primarily to employ the Millhaud classical mantras of polytonality and polyrhythm in his compositions. It was Darius Millhaud's legitimization of the jazz style to Dave Brubeck that gave the young pianist the drive to explore and expand upon the prevailing jazz paradigm. He began his music career in 1947 by joining a jazz band at a San Francisco club named Geary Cellar - a collaboration that was undistinguished except for the fact that he began playing with alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, whom he had met briefly while playing in the Army. In 1949, he left San Francisco to join The Paul Desmond Trio at The Bard Box in Palo Alto, but Paul Desmond left after three weeks, engendering in Dave Brubeck a bitterness towards the man with whom he would later become famous. Thus when Dave Brubeck formed The Brubeck Trio in November of 1949 in Oakland, Paul Desmond was not among the members, although he soon began sitting in every night. Dave Brubeck was resistant towards making it a quartet despite the group's success, and an unfortunate neck injury suffered by Dave Brubeck put an end to his playing for six months and to the promising future of The Trio.

First Successes:
_____Dave Brubeck returned from his injury in June 1951, and formed The Quartet with Paul Desmond, Joe Dodge, and Bob Bates that was to reshape the American jazz scene in just a few years time. The Quartet had the good fortune to not only have four talented musicians, but also to be in California in the early 1950's, when such luminaries as Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan would, due to their geographical and stylistic proximity, become frontmen for the West Coast Cool jazz movement. After three months, The Dave Brubeck Quartet began travelling in Dave Brubeck's station wagon (with the string bass tied to the roof). At first they did the normal jazz club circuit, but Dave Brubeck, always particular about the type of audience in front of which he played, decided upon an audience which would eventually provide them with the support and inertia to propel them onto the popular music scene: college students. After establishing his own record label, Fantasy®, Dave Brubeck released The Quartet's first album, "Jazz at Oberlin", in 1953. The album was a modest success - enough to get The Quartet a contract with Columbia Records® - but was more notable for being one of the first jazz LP's to be recorded in concert instead of in a studio. Their first album on Columbia® was "Jazz Goes to College" in 1954, which sold over 100,000 copies and placed Dave Brubeck and his Quartet in the national spotlight. In this same year Dave Brubeck became the first jazz artist to grace the cover of Time magazine as part of an article which described him as "...the most exciting new jazz artist at work today..." and The Quartet's music as "...some of the strangest and loveliest music ever played since jazz was born...".

The Classic Quartet:
_____Despite the runaway popularity, neither the evolution of Dave Brubeck nor that of The Dave Brubeck Quartet was finished, as in 1956 the group replaced drummer Joe Dodge, a sturdy backup man, with the high-profile Joe Morello, transforming The Quartet from a two-virtuoso to three-virtuoso band. Understandably, tension developed between Joe Morello and the original members Paul Desmond and Bob Bates, but as the players began to get used to the sharing of time and Bob Bates was replaced by Eugene Wright on bass, the situation was resolved and The Quartet's most well-known collaborations were to result.

_____In 1959 The Quartet released Time Out, a collection of songs which experimented with different time signatures, which included the hits "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo à la Turk". "Take Five", which soon became Dave Brubeck and The Quartet's signature tune, was officially composed by Paul Desmond but derived from Joe Morello's original 5/4 beat. The composition can be read as a conciliatory act between the two previously feuding bandmates. "Blue Rondo à la Turk" was a venture into 9/8 time and a play on Wolfgang Mozart's "Rondo alla Turca". The wild success of the album and "Take Five" in particular catapulted The Quartet and its leader beyond simply the temporal successes of the day and into the permanent jazz canon. The Quartet continued to produce popular jazz albums, including the inevitable Time Further Out which experimented further with nontraditonal meter. Dave Brubeck himself, however, seized upon his popularity to branch out into other projects and expand upon his aspirations of being a composer in other realms. In 1960, a ballet he wrote entitled Points on Jazz was accepted into the repertory of The American Ballet Theatre. Dave Brubeck wrote the score for The Real Ambassadors, an attempt to infuse a Broadway show with the emotions of jazz and its players, and its performance at the 1962 Monterey Jazz Festival with Louis Armstrong is remembered as a seminal event in the history of that venerable annual show.

_____As Dave Brubeck reached across boundaries to introduce jazz to different disciplines, The Quartet reached around the world to introduce jazz into new countries, touring extensively in Europe and Asia. Indeed, the popularity of The Dave Brubeck Quartet overseas was so widespread that longtime Dave Brubeck supporter and comedian Mort Sahl remarked that "...whenever John Foster Dulles visits a country, the State Department sends that Brubeck Quartet in a few weeks later to repair the damage...". The Dave Brubeck classic "Blue Rondo à la Turk" was in fact composed when the band was touring in Turkey and was based on a traditional Turkish 9/8 meter, and The Quartet released a collection of selections recorded on the Continent as The Dave Brubeck Quartet in Europe in 1958 and Jazz Impressions of Eurasia, recorded after an extended tour in Eastern Europe and The Middle East in 1958. Although The Quartet enjoyed continued success, their development soon began to diverge from that of mainstream jazz, and they disbanded in 1967, regrouping only once in 1976 for a twenty-fifth anniversary tour.

Later Career:
_____After the breakup of 'The Classic Quartet', as it has come to be known, Dave Brubeck continued to expound upon his role as a jazz-inspired composer, creating ballets, scores, oratorios, cantatas, symphonic pieces, classical compositions, liturgical compositions (including a contemporary mass), and Native American-inspired compositions. He continued to work not only on his own and with contemporary jazz masters, but also collaborated in a Quartet with his sons Dan Brubeck, Darius Brubeck, and Chris Brubeck, all jazz artists of their own merit. Among the awards and honours Dave Brubeck received after the breakup of 'The Classic Quartet' are: playing for four presidents (John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton), election to the 'DownBeat® Hall of Fame', San Francisco Jazz Festival Laureate, an appearance at The 1988 Reagan-Gorbachev Moscow Summit, a Lifetime Achievement Award from The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, National Medal of the Arts, composing a score for Pope John Paul II's visit to San Francisco in 1987, six honorary doctorate degrees, named a Yale University-Duke Ellington Fellow, and a doctorate degree from Duisberg University - the first doctorate degree awarded to an American jazz musician from a German university.

_____A change in Dave Brubeck's outlook is apparent in his development from the days of 'The Classic Quartet', to his later work. In the early days, the only written parts of the tunes were the short intro and conclusion and a sketchy chord progression, and Dave Brubeck confessed that 90 percent of the notes the group played occurred to them as they played. Despite this reliance on improvisation, he still received ample criticism that he couldn't swing (a hallmark of jazz up to the 1950's), to which he responded that "...any jackass can swing. But to try something new and swing at the same time, that's hard...". But as he continued to develop, he came to realize his dreams of being a composer, and his later work (other than strictly jazz tunes) relies more and more on written composition.

_____Despite his obvious successes, critics often refuse to acknowlege Dave Brubeck's importance in the development of jazz music, alluding to his abundant popular success as a mark of a want of merit. Yet regardless of the critics' subjective assessment of the merit of his contribution to the jazz idiom, he is arguably responsible for initiating more listeners into the art of jazz - a legacy more fruitful and healthy for jazz music as a whole than most.

_____Joe Morello ("Joseph A. Morello") was born on July 17th, 1928 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Joe Morello began studying violin at age six, and three years later was featured with The Boston Symphony Orchestra as soloist in the "Mendelssohn Violin Concerto". By age 15 he had switched to drums, first studying with a show drummer named Joe Sefcik and then studying with the legendary George Lawrence Stone. "...I'd work out of his book, 'Stick Control', and after I could play the sticking patterns I'd start throwing in accents in various places..." Joe Morello recalls.

George Lawrence Stone was so impressed with Joe Morello's ideas that he incorporated them into his next book, "Accents & Rebounds", which is dedicated to Joe Morello. Later, Joe Morello studied with Radio City Music Hall percussionist Billy Gladstone, one of the most technically advanced drummers of all time.

_____After moving to New York City, Joe Morello worked with an impressive list of jazz musicians including Johnny Smith, Tal Farlow, Phil Woods, Gil Mele and Stan Kenton. While working with Marian McPartland at "The Hickory House", Joe Morello's technical feats attracted the attention of a legion of drummers, who would crowd around him at a back table during intermissions to watch him work out with a pair of sticks on a folded napkin. Jim Chapin tells stories about unsuspecting drummers who would try to impress Joe Morello by showing off their fancy licks. Joe Morello would listen intently, then say, "...Is this what you're doing?...", as he'd play their licks back at them twice as fast.

_____His 12-year stint with Dave Brubeck made Joe Morello a household name in the jazz (and drumming) world, and on the quartet's recording of "Take Five" he performed one of the most famous drum solos in jazz history. "...When people use the word 'technique,' they usually mean 'speed'...", Joe Morello says, commenting on the solo. "...But the 'Take Five' solo had very little speed involved. It was more about space and playing over the barline. It was conspicuous by being so different..."

_____After leaving Dave Brubeck in 1968, Joe Morello became an in-demand clinician, teacher and bandleader. He has appeared on over 120 albums, including his own 1993 release Going Places on DMP. He has written several drum books, including "Master Studies", published by 'Modern Drummer Publications', and has done an instructional video for 'Hot Licks' entitled "The Natural Approach to Technique". Joe Morello has won countless music polls over the years, and was elected to 'The Modern Drummer Magazine Hall of Fame' in 1988.

_____Due to his failing eyesight (he went blind in 1976), Joe Morello has mostly worked as a drum instructor since (Danny Gottlieb was a student), but still plays and participated in reunions with Dave Brubeck and Marian McPartland.

_____Paul Desmond ("Paul Emil Breitenfeld") was born on November 25th, 1924 in San Francisco and died in New York on May 30th, 1977. He is widely recognized for his genius as a melodic improviser and as the benchmark of cool jazz sax players. His warm, elegant tone was one that he admittedly tried to make sound like a dry martini. He and Art Pepper were virtually the only alto players of their generation not directly influenced by Charlie Parker. Paul Desmond was influenced by Lester Young, but took it further, into melodic and harmonic worlds never before traveled by reedmen - especially in the upper registers.

_____Paul Desmond is best known for his years with The Dave Brubeck Quartet (from 1959 to 1967) and his infamous composition "Take Five". He met Dave Brubeck in the late 1940s and played with his Octet. The Dave Brubeck Quartet formed toward the end of 1950 and took final shape with Eugene Wright and Joe Morello a few years later. Jazz at Oberlin and Time Out were considered essential purchases by college students of the era, but Jazz Impressions of Japan was its most innovative recording. Paul Desmond played his loping, slow, ordered, and intricate solos in direct contrast to the pianist's obsession with large chords, creating a myriad of textures for melodic and rhythmic counterpoint unlike any heard in jazz. His witty quotations from musicals, classical pieces, and folk songs were also a watermark of his artistry.

_____When The Dave Brubeck Quartet split in 1967, Paul Desmond began an intermittent yet satisfying recording career. It included dates with Gerry Mulligan for Verve®, various sessions with Jim Hall, and a concert with The Modern Jazz Quartet. He played his last gigs with The Dave Brubeck Quartet at reunions before dying of lung cancer in New York City in 1977.

_____Eugene Wright was born on May 29th, 1923 in Chicago. He's best known for his steady, concise contributions to The Dave Brubeck Quartet for a decade in the 1950s and 1960s. Eugene Wright was a dependable, never flamboyant bassist. He was mostly self-taught on bass, but took a few lessons late in his career from Paul Gregory.

_____Eugene Wright studied cornet in high school. He led a 16-piece band, The Dukes of Swing, in the mid and late 1940s. Eugene Wright played with Gene Ammons, Count Basie and Arnett Cobb in the late 1940s and early 1950s, then worked with Buddy DeFranco from 1952 to 1955, touring Europe with him. He played in The Red Norvo Trio in 1955, and toured Australia with it. Eugene Wright was featured in a film short with Charlie Barnet, then joined Dave Brubeck in 1958 and remained until 1968. He led his own ensemble on a tour of black colleges in 1969 and 1970, then played with Monty Alexander's trio from 1971 to 1974.

_____Eugene Wright worked in television studios and did film soundtrack work as well as play in clubs during the 1970s. He also did private teaching, and became head of the advisory board in the jazz division of The International Society of Bassists, and head of The University of Cincinnati's jazz department. Unfortunately, there are no sessions of Euguene Wright as leader, but he can be heard on numerous Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond sessions.

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