The Dave Brubeck Quartet at the Toronto Jazz Festival; Wednesday July 1, 2009

The Dave Brubeck Quartet at the Toronto Jazz Festival; Wednesday July 1, 2009

Every Canada Day I see some kind of show. This year was sort of a special occasion because I dropped fifty bones on my ticket, regardless, it was a lovely time! The stage as I suspected was outside, but well tented in with carpets and chairs, an elegant summer party. There was however space at the back that people could mooch and watch in for free. However if it rained they woudl simply just close the curtains and the moochers would be in trouble. The weather held out, mooching proceeded. I probably would have saved the money if I had known that that was a viable option.

I told myself last year around this time that I would see Dave Brubeck before he died. He's eighty-eight years old which is absolutely remarkable that he can even continue with his daily lifestyle. On top of that this man globetrots, he's still touring quite a bit and always manages to come into Toronto at least once a year.

His fingers are still nimble and they move with ease, unlike his abilities to walk and speak. He managed to get up a few times throughout the set to talk to the crowd. Each time the crowd rose up and cheered. He opened up the show by saying... "When I was younger my favourite composer was Duke Ellington, so lets play some of his stuff..." He played a song at the beginning and then they played "Take the A-Train" at the end.

He got up again to introduce his son, Matthew Brubeck, a York/U of T instructor of jazz improvisation, specialising in stringed instruments. He played the cello... I think that was my favourite part. While introducing him Brubeck described his son's brief story: "I asked him why he didn't tour any more and he said being 6'8 makes travelling difficult, so i've decided to settle down in Toronto as a York instructor". Matthew then entered the stage. Brubeck said every once in a while a moment inspires him to write a song, he read a memorised note from his wife (which i'm sure was an old jazz song). The note read things about distance and honesty... He said his son Matthew was going to play the melody and then on his cue he would improv over the tune. Brubeck described it as "Matthew was going to play the song and then he would let himself fly". I thought that was very nicely put.

Brubeck held out playing anything from 'Take Five' until the end, which earned another talk from Mr. Brubeck. He said that they recorded a little album called 'Take Five' fifty years ago, and they've been playing a lot of songs out of it recently. He described the tune "Three to Get Ready" as a tune that decieved the listener, the first two bars are in 3/4 time (fooling the listener into thinking it was a dance) and the second two are in 4/4... Then they improvise on top of that. He went on to say that and even sometimes it sounds good. Modest.

They ended on "Take Five". Except what threw me off was that Brubeck barely played. He simply stood up and leaned against the piano with his stomach over the keys with a smile on his face the entire time. He let his band and son play... Brubeck would only splash in for the recap of the beginning.