Dave Brubeck takes the cake. Plus: Polls and pols. Tookie. Alito a libertarian? Plus much more.
p>
BRUBECK AT 85
br>
Re: Christopher Orlet's
Take
85
:
/p>
p>I remember Dave Brubeck fondly, having met this quiet, direct,
and unassuming mega-star of modern jazz in the mid-1960s when I was
privileged to provide public relations support for the world
premiere of his oratorio for orchestra and chorus,
The Light in
the Wilderness
, which was introduced with the Cincinnati
Symphony. I was a marketing manager at the time with Fred Waring's
Shawnee Press, a pioneer publisher of choral music for church and
school. Our president, Ernie Farmer, had been a longtime friend of
the jazz great and Shawnee Press was owned by the 1940s-60s choral
music icon Fred Waring of The Pennsylvanians fame. (There is still
a major thoroughfare named after Waring in Palm Springs,
California, along with those for some of his contemporaries like
Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra. Fred's son is still in the real estate
business there.) Thus Shawnee Press became the logical choice to
facilitate Brubeck's unique venture into modern classicism. The
premiere was very successful, though Brubeck of course remains best
remembered for his jazz stylings.
br>
--
Gene Wright
br>
Laguna Niguel, California
br>
P.S. Along the way in this project, I learned that I had a
namesake. The bass player for the Dave Brubeck Quartet happened to
be gentleman also named Gene Wright. And now, with congratulations
to Dave on his 85th Birthday, it is time for me to "Take 5"...
/p>
Thanks for this article. If you listen to what Brubeck was doing in
his 20s you would be hard pressed to find any contemporary musician
whose music contains as much music. Like Larry Bird or Magic
Johnson Brubeck made the musicians around him better. Paul
Desmond's post-Brubeck work simply doesn't compare with his work
with the Brubeck Quartet.
