The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur News and Links for Tuesday, May 5
Star Wars? Pfft. Yesterday was Brubeck Day.
American jazz musician and composer Dave Brubeck (1920 - 2012) onstage during a concert at Lincoln Center's Damrosch Park Bandshell, New York, New York, August 5, 2007. (Photo by Jack Vartoogian/Getty Images) | Getty Images Hi, Hoddlers! Did you enjoy your Star Wars Day yesterday?
Well, it turns out there was another reason to celebrate yesterday (and no, I’m not talking about the anniversary of the Kent State University massacre). A number of years ago I fell down a jazz hole, and it’s one I have yet to crawl out of because I like it in this hole. I know Dave Brubeck gets scoffed at quite a bit by jazzheads — Brubeck himself is a genius and his partner Paul Desmond were wildly popular… but on the west coast, and mostly among white jazz fans.
His music is undoubtedly catchy and fun, but it had (and still has in some circles) the reputation of being “safe” jazz, math music for nice white people, “cool jazz”. Like others in his era (it WAS the 1950s) some of his music choices skewed awfully close to the, uh uncomfortable, especially his jazz inspired by Japanese music and culture. There was definitely a distinction between what Brubeck and guys like Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan, Art Pepper, and others were doingout west compared to the grittier, sometimes nastier bebop on the east coast by players like John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and others (though there was a hardcore hardbob school in California too).
Not that’s BAD. Far from it. And while I gravitate towards the East Coast school I do love me some cool jazz, especially Brubeck.