Review: Brubecks Play Brubeck, The Stables 12.01.2016
Dave Brubeck, who passed away in 2012, is viewed as a true pioneer of that quintessential American art form, jazz. His classic quartet recordings mixed melodic intricacy, an almost classical piano virtuosity and, in Paul Desmond the purveyor of some of the most elegant solos ever committed to vinyl.
But for all the accessibility of tracks like Desmond's 'Take Five', there lurked a much more complex dimension to Brubeck's music, and it wasn't uncommon for his songs to switch meters in the most unusual places. The culmination of such rhythmic challenges culminated in the song 'Unsquare Dance', from 1961’s Time Further Out, written to a truly mind-bending 7/4 rhythm.
If any unit is well-placed to tackle Brubeck's idiosyncratic compositions, it's more than likely a quartet that consists of three of his sons. Led by Darius Brubeck on piano, with multi-instrumentalist Chris on bass and Dan on drums, the quartet is rounded out with stalwart jazz musician Dave O'Higgins taking the role of Desmond from the classic quartet.
As they whipped through some of their father's most famous pieces – 'Blue Rondo A La Turk', 'In Your Own Sweet Way' and ‘It's A Raggy Waltz’ – as well as some less well-known pieces such as his first composition 'Weep No More', they offered pretty convincing proof that they possess some pretty impressive genes between them. To fully misquote Star Wars, the jazz force runs deep in this family.
As pronounced and distinctive as Brubeck Snr's piano style was, it was also never especially showy, with the limelight more often than not ceded to Desmond's monumentally laidback alto sax playing in the classic quartet period. So it is with this quartet, Darius doing a splendid job of emulating Desmond's style while also adding his own flair to proceedings. At times it felt less like playing and more like dense clusters of butterflies descending on the piano's keys.
The other thing with Brubeck's particular strain of jazz was that it was generally pretty easy on the ear, and it's only when you appreciate the twists and unexpected time signature changes he weaved in that you begin to understand how dexterous players need to be to avoid making a thoroughly hamfisted job of it. A glance at the smiles and gestures being traded among the accomplished players might suggest the four are having a blast on the stage at The Stables, but some of it is probably relief at having made it through without mucking up.
The second set found the band playing a miscellany of tracks not necessarily written by their father. That set included one of Darius's own compositions that he claimed was written because so many people come up to him and say 'I saw your father perform once,' and that piece acted as a neat summary of his father's entire career in music, with snatches of melody from pieces like ‘Take Five’ audible at times.
Later, Darius and Chris performed a take on Fats Waller's 'Black And Blue' as a duo, with Chris switching to trombone for the track. The second half also included a track taken from the never-realised musical that Dave Brubeck and his wife Iola wrote, originally with the intention of Louis Armstrong and Carmen Macrae leading the stage version until it was abandoned.
The set concluded with a pairing of 'Take Five' and 'Unsquare Dance', both of which were executed with deft precision. 'Unsquare Dance' was, in its own way, a relatively avant-garde gesture from Brubeck, taking the most American of notions - the square dance - and manipulating it into something virtually and maddeningly unrecognisable. That the quartet ripped through it without seeming to break a sweat belies just how hard this piece is to do well. As for 'Take Five', the deceptively circular sax riff that Desmond applied to that has the capacity to stay in your brain long after the reed's been removed finally from the player's mouth, and so it was tonight with O'Higgins executing it with tender devotion. It was, however, Dan Brubeck that stole the show on that track, with some truly ferocious kitwork that riffed on Joe Morello's original, comparatively tame, solo.
The Stables show prefaced a short run at Ronny Scott's in London and other gigs elsewhere in the UK. Tonight's show had a particular poignancy for the Brubecks because their parents were close friends with John and Cleo Dankworth, who founded the venue in 1970 and where their father had performed during his long career.
Anyone looking to hear the Brubeck family musical inheritance, from those who can legitimately claim to know it best, would be wise to see this quartet in action.
Words: Mat Smith
