With sadness we announce the death of the composer and pianist Dave Brubeck, aged 91.
Born in California in 1920, Dave Brubeck became one of the most
popular and successful jazz musicians of all time, with a career
spanning 6 decades. Classically trained and schooled under the
French composer Darius Milhaud, Dave developed string taste for
irregular time signatures and classical structures, which gave his
jazz compositions a unique flavour.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet became a household name, twice being named the jazz group of the year by Downbeat Magazine. He also performed widely with his four sons, also prominent musicians. The seminal album Time Out, released in 1959, is still among the biggest selling jazz albums of all time, and included some of the biggest hits ‘Blue Rondo a la Turk’ and ‘Take Five’, composed by saxophonist Paul Desmond, which became the first jazz instrumental to sell over one million copies. Dave was named a Kennedy Centre honoree by President Barack Obama in 2009.
He is survived by his wife Iola, sons Darius, Chris, Daniel and Michael, daughter Catherine, grandsons and a great-granddaughter.
