Dave Brubeck - Master of Jazz

Tonight, the Kennedy Center focused on extreme talent of the country's greatest artists, one of whom was Dave Brubeck.

Dave Brubeck is one of the people that defined the sound of the American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to wild, reflecting both his mother's attempts at classical training to his improvisational skills. His music is known for using unusual time signatures, and superimposing contrasting rhythms, meters, and tonalities. The Dave Brubeck Quartet’s defining masterpiece, Time Out is one of the most rhythmically innovative albums in jazz history, the first to consciously explore time signatures outside of the standard 4/4 beat or 3/4-waltz time. Columbia Records wasn't to happy releasing such an artsy fartsy project, and many critics initially roasted him for tampering with jazz's rhythmic foundation. But for once, the public’s taste was more advanced than that of the critics. Boosted by a hit single “Take Five” written by long-time musical partner, alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, and Time Out became an unexpectedly huge success, and has endured as a jazz classic and best seller since.

No one has ever even come close to the sound that is Dave Brubeck.