Dave Brubeck

Dave Brubeck (born December 6 1920 in Concord, California) is an American jazz pianist who wrote a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke." Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, showing both his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills. Much of his music makes use of unusual time signatures; his long-time musical partner, alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, wrote what is arguably the quartet's most famous piece, "Take Five" (which is in 5/4 time). Brubeck experimented with time signatures through much of his career, recording "Pick Up Sticks" in 6/4, "Unsquare Dance" in 7/4, and "Blue Rondo A La Turk" in 9/8, an experimentation begun with his attempts to put music to the odd rhythms generated by various machines around him on his parents' cattle ranch in a small town in the western United States. "Blue Rondo A La Turk" is a play on Mozart's "Rondo alla Turca", and the 9/8 metre of traditional Turkish music, the country in which the band was touring when the tune was written.

Samples

• of "Take Five"