The American Spectator

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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.

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