As I was listening to NPR this morning, they interrupted their broadcast with  the news that Jazz Icon Dave Brubeck has died of heart failure this morning just a day shy of his 92nd birthday.  He was en route to his cardiologist.

Brubeck’s music tends to go round and round in your head once you’ve heard it. On a gloomy day, his Take Five piece never fails to poke and prod until I’m tap-tapping my feet and I feel a lightening in my mood.  Even my outlook.  I’ve been playing that song for so many years that I have vivid memories whenever I chance upon it on the radio.  The rhythm is certainly unique (as are his other pieces).  It’s played in 5/4 time.

I play his music in my car, when I’m in the kitchen cooking, when we’re eating out on the back porch, while I’m reading or working on some documents, feeding my daughter when she was little, or taking a break from reviewing for the boards.  It’s been a part of my day-to-day as far as I can remember.

The music starts with the piano and percussion setting the stage for the saxophone to carry the lofty melody that’s unmistakable once you hear it streaming through and you can’t help but tap, sway, snap, nod your head in agreement. Yeah!  Cool!

Watch Dave play Take Five on YouTube with Paul Desmond.

Thank you, Dave, for your wonderful pieces.  May you rest in peace!  Your music will live on!

More about Dave Brubeck:

• Dave Brubeck’s Fresh Air Interview in 2010 on his 90th Birthday
• Dave Brubeck at the Newport Jazz Festival
• The Story of Dave Brubeck’s Take Five
• Brubeck on Piano Jazz

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