Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner - Non Classical Dave Brubeck - Take Five

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He can't swing and sounds stiff and tedious because he can't execute technically at the piano. A spinal accident from a water accident 50 years ago locked up his hands. You can only swing to a certain extent when relegated to only being able to pound block chords, most of which contain "accidental", unintended notes, with your fingers hopelessly locked in one position.

Take Five put Brubeck on the map, his claim to fame, aside from persistance. The song caught on. Jazz people liked it, non-Jazz people liked it. No Take, no Five, no fame.

Talented, couth, dignified, intelligent, soft-spoken...Dave Brubeck is a total package. Oh, did I mention his unparalled style? IMO he's Master #1 and 2 and 3.

First, Brubeck always sounds good. That said I think Virtuosic has a point - none of the Jazz pianists I know use him as a role model (for their playing). People like Bill Evans, Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson as Virtuosic mentioned are more often in this place. Yet keep in mind people change and tastes change. I said things about music and musicians that I now feel silly about because I had not listened to and studied the music enough. I now reserve "He's the Greatest" for Muhamad Ali! In music and Jazz in Particular I say "I like that, or him/her". Sometimes I like it a lot.

Let someone rave Virtuosic, they may in the fullness of time come to change their opinion as they listen more and learn more. Of course, they could REALLY like Brubeck and may only like him more. I don't mind people liking Brubeck - I can't deal with people that like Kenny G!

I've never really liked Brubeck's feel...really stiff and at times forced. I love playing some of his tunes though. "In Your Own Sweet Way" is great fun to play.

That Benson video is incredible. He kind of stumbles over the first phrase in the "b" section on the head, but man he is smokin' on his solo!

One thing I do at the piano is to mimic other notable pianists, playing within their style. Their cliche runs and unique stylistic fluorishes. Tyner, Cecil Taylor, Hancock, Jarrett, Corea, Monk, Tristano, Peterson, Tatum, Hines, etc., all the greats having recognizable differences to a keen student of jazz piano. I sometime do it as an exercise, much like one might improvise variations on a theme in different compositional forms. Sometimes I do it for other musicians just for amusement. About 30 years ago, a friend of mine had an old pair of Con Edison 15 KiloVolt, protective lineman gloves. They looked somewhere between these:

http://www.probuy.net/shops/probuytest/images/products/LINEMAN.jpg

but because they were "old fashioned", from the year 1, they were even clunkier, more like a hockey goal-keeper's gloves! I put them on and started playing the piano. After a few moments, I immediately thought "Brubeck" and launched into "Take 5", pounding it out a la Brubeck with whatever soloing I could manage with the thumb and pinky alone, as the rigid gloves almost completely restricted accurate pianistic motion of the 2-3-4 fingers. Still having too much technique to properly capture Brubeck's feel, I placed a tablecloth over the keys and that completed the illusion perfectly! Absolutely true story.

Ho hummmm...excuse me; I think this is where I came in.

"O wad some Power the giftie gie us to see oursels as ithers see us!"

What's interesting is that you took it upon yourself to rate me with 1 star because my opinion of Brubeck not being the greatest musician in musical history doesn't coincide with your delusional opinions foisted as facts. That's far more interesting to me than Brubeck, and certainly even more telling about you as an incredibly petty person than Brubeck's obvious woeful lack of pianism or musicianship. The rampant, constant criticism that he's received from jazz pianists and other jazz musicians over the years is well deserved and the comments about forced and stiff, dead accurate. In other words, Brubeck is nothing more than a hack. And that's a fact.

I just gave you one star, same as you gave me, not just coincidentally for your opinion of Brubeck, but also as a token of your pettiness. I'll keep my opinions to myself from now on, and anything else of value for that matter pertaining to piano or jazz, and just listen to you pontificate, making wild and unsubstantiated claims with no basis in fact, unchallenged, which I imagine will be a welcome relief to your ruffled ego.

no. please continue to do so.
just restrain yourself when you chance upon absurdity.

virtuosic, I'm finding many things amusing here, but the most amusing is that you can have an opinion but others cannot. Even more amusing is that your opinion is "substantiated and valid" while other opinions aren't. Speaking of pettiness...how have you been? The one good thing that has come from this is your promise to keep your opinion to yourself. If that's kept, God works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform.

I'll keep my opinions on music to myself, but still continue to express my opinions about you and what you did. How you retaliated like a spiteful little girl by giving me a 1 star rating because I didn't agree with your opinion on Brubeck as God. And you're an educator? I find that hard to believe, but if by some chance you slipped through the administrative cracks in the education system, what a disgrace it is to teachers everywhere! What do you do to your students if they express their own opinion, fail them?

Second of all, anyone who feels that Brubeck is the Alpha and Omega, a man without peer at the keyboard either knowns less than nothing about music, is completely delusional, or stone deaf. Brubeck as the ultimate pianist is as incredulous a concept as believing that a newborn could throw a piano and hit the moon.

Then, after acting out of vengeance because my opinion differed from yours, you actually have the the audacity to refer to God and Scriptures? You're quite a piece of work. Isn't there a neo-Nazi message board somewhere that you should be posting on?

I know. It was pretty absurd for me to disagree about Brubeck being the greatest pianist who ever lived, wasn't it? Not only is he the best of the best, he has more talent in his pinky nail than every other pianist in history, combined. They're all children compared to old Stone Fingers. You've made me see the light. I've been saved by the magnificence of Brubeck's hands of stone. :rolleyes:

Afraid I'm going to have to back Brummell here. I love Brubeck, his music and his style. I don't now why it's necessary to childishly try to tear down someone elses opinion even though it may seem wrong to you.

A huge part of what's wrong in the entire world is the inability of many people to accept that someone disagrees with them.

Unfortunate but it will probably never change.

Roger, careful or you'll be torn apart too by this whatever who promised to keep his unprofessional opinion to himself. (I knew that wasn't going to happen.) He loves to use "stone fingers" to refer to Brubeck, a true pianist and a real gentleman in every sense of the word. This only enforces my belief that jealousy is a terrible thing.

Yes. That's it. I'm jealous of Brubeck's prodigious technical mastery. Before you start accusing people of being jealous of Brubeck's stone-fingered technique, perhaps you should give this a lesson to dissuade you from believing your own arm-chair pyschoanalytical BS:

http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?/topic/37/766.html

Yeah, I'm real jealous of Brubeck. I'd much rather be 80 years old and have to wrestle with my own hands whenever I sit at a keyboard than be me.

How about we discuss your actions, the deliberate rate bashing you gave me because I had the audacity to express my opinion on Brubeck? You don't want to discuss that, do you? Not that I blame you. Then you have the balls to tell me that it's better that I don't post anymore. That I add nothing of value to this Forum? Have you ever read any of my posts on music or jazz? Jealousy? You're the last one that should mention that word. What's really wrong? Some of my abilities displayed on my posted MP3s freaked you out? Let's be really honest here. This is far more about your jealousy of me than your unrealistic, delusion fixations on Brubeck's musicianship, which have been criticized by more notable jazz pianists than I could possibly mention. Everybody's wrong and you're right and that's a fact? According to who? You? Let's see the research behind your facts.
You yourself took this well beyond opinion. You stated that, "it's a fact that Burbeck is superior to every other pianist". I challenged your statement that it was a fact.
We should be discussing the deliberate revenge 1 star drubbing you bestowed on my rating, not because I don't contribute sound advice and expertise, but because I dared to question your convoluted facts, based more on insanity than reality.

Nope, sorry to disappoint you, but I have never read any of your posts nor have I listened to your "versions". Here there are 2 chapters, and I have just given you Chapter 1. Would you care to hear Chapter 2 or are you bright enough to figure that one out? I'm insane? Who is psychoanalyzing whom? Coming from you, that diagnosis is the greatest compliment I have ever received so here is a great big thank you. You are truly filled with yourself, your talent, and your greatness. Such unwarranted audacity speaks volumes. Sweet sounds are coming from my Bose this very minute: Dave Brubeck!!!

So since you never read any of my posts, nor did you ever hear any of my MP3s, which one of your orifices did you pull your assessment of my "feeble" abilities out of, fool? You know everything about me, a self-professed expert on me and know how "unprofessional" a musician I am, based on what? These are more of your assinine "facts"? Since you never read my posts, nor listened to my music, what did you base your 1 star rating of me on? Just the spitefulness and pettiness of a very, very small person? Are you an adult? If so, I'm very sorry for you. You have my sympathies, as does anyone who comes into contact with you on a daily basis.
I just read all of your posts on this Forum, aside from this thread. Took all of 3 minutes. You really don't know much about music do you? Not one piece of information, not even an iota of technical or theoretical expertise directed to someone in a helpful way to any extent whatsoever in any of your posts. Do you even play the piano?

virtuosic, you read my posts in 3 minutes? So you are not only the world's only and greatest musical guru, but you are also the speediest of speed readers if one deletes comprehension. Aren't you absolutely wonderful in every regard? Well, almost...discounting the spelling department. From what orifice (your word) did you pull the spelling of "asinine"? I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Undoubtedly, it was your keyboard's mistake, not yours, huh?

Most of your posts are one sentence. It was quite easy to read them in three minutes. How come you won't address your spiteful actions of giving me 1 star for my opinion on Brubeck? You focus on spelling, but not on your actions and statements, right?

What do you teach? Stupidity? By your own admission, you haven't read any of my posts. And in not reading them, you stated that my posts are of no value whatsoever? Another "fact" of yours? Why are you so focused on belittling my musicianship when you haven't read any of my posts on music, or heard any of my MP3s? Isn't that ridiculous of you? You don't mind showing what a total horse's rectum you are with your contradictory, illogical commentary like, "I've never heard your music but I don't like it. I've never read your posts, but you know nothing". Then in another post of yours you discuss how wonderful arrogance is. Why are you here? To troll real musicians? To troll musicians you've never heard, that have made their living in recording studios for the past 30 years, calling them "unprofessional"?
Post a musical example of your playing. Confirm what I've already stated about you based on your actions and comments on this Forum.