Dave Brubeck: A Life in Time

by Philip Clark

The definitive, investigative biography of jazz legend Dave Brubeck ("Take Five")

In 2003, music journalist Philip Clark was granted unparalleled access to jazz legend Dave Brubeck. Over the course of ten days, he shadowed the Dave Brubeck Quartet during their extended British tour, recording an epic interview with the bandleader. Brubeck opened up as never before, disclosing his unique approach to jazz; the heady days of his "classic" quartet in the 1950s-60s; hanging out with Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong, and Miles Davis; and the many controversies that had dogged his 66-year-long career.

Alongside beloved figures like Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra, Brubeck's music has achieved name recognition beyond jazz. But finding a convincing fit for Brubeck's legacy, one that reconciles his mass popularity with his advanced musical technique, has proved largely elusive. In Dave Brubeck: A Life in Time, Clark provides us with a thoughtful, thorough, and long-overdue biography of an extraordinary man whose influence continues to inform and inspire musicians today.

Structured around Clark's extended interview and intensive new research, this book tells one of the last untold stories of jazz, unearthing the secret history of "Take Five" and many hitherto unknown aspects of Brubeck's early career - and about his creative relationship with his star saxophonist Paul Desmond. Woven throughout are cameo appearances from a host of unlikely figures from Sting, Ray Manzarek of The Doors, and Keith Emerson, to John Cage, Leonard Bernstein, Harry Partch, and Edgard Varèse. Each chapter explores a different theme or aspect of Brubeck's life and music, illuminating the core of his artistry and genius. To quote President Obama, as he awarded the musician with a Kennedy Center Honor: "You can't understand America without understanding jazz, and you can't understand jazz without understanding Dave Brubeck."

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, Jazz, Music Biography

464 pages, Hardcover

First published February 18, 2020

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

"[The hit 1959 album] Time Out behaved differently from how jazz normally acted and sounded . . . playful but serious-minded, and very serious about being playful . . . It was an album that could melt into the background or send people to the dance floor but which also revealed, and continues to reveal, further harmonic, timbral, and melodic subtleties with each careful listen." -- page 249

This so-called biography was a big disappointment, which is something I would never say about Dave Brubeck's musical output. (And really I'm not much of a jazz aficionado, but I own a dozen CD versions of his now-classic 50's and 60's albums when he was fronting his eponymously-named Quartet.) In fact, it is pretty misleading to call this a biography - or for the library system to shelve it in that section - as it is more an detailed examination of parts of the man's music career and certain album releases than a true life story. (For example, Brubeck's birthdate and hometown are finally mentioned on page 302 of a 400-page book.) Author Clark appears to be a devoted fan, but he often lapses into hipper-than-thou prose and wildly jumps back-and-forth through a few decades in a single chapter. But when he concentrated for a dozen or so pages on discussing Time Out - my personal favorite of Brubeck's albums, featuring tracks with the off-kilter time signatures like 'Take Five,' 'Blue Rondo a la Turk,' and 'Three to Get Ready' - it was great. The rest of the time it was not.

[Barry Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although most people associate Dave Brubeck with his big hits "Blue Rondo a la Turk" and "Time Out" with his quartet on Columbia Records in the 1950's during the so-called "cool jazz" era, he had a long and varied career from the 1940's until his death in 2012. Unlike many jazz musicians, he was a student of modern music pioneer Darius Milhaud and his compositions and playing always had one foot in the realm of modernism, with its polytonality. Apparently, this tendency got him in hot water with many jazz critics over the years who believed "true" jazz only resided only in the kind of innovations in melody wrought by bebop. Brubeck's playing transcended and was unrelated to those ideas. He never played in "keys" like many musicians. Critics thought he was too classic and too "white" in his playing even though his technique was grounded in stride and barrelhouse piano players like Fats Waller, Willie "The Lion" Smith and Erroll Garner. This excellent biography makes clear that he simply chose his own path and individual idea of jazz that was outside mainstream critical thinking and just as valid as anything the bebop players (most of whom actually admired him and his ideas greatly) were committed to. It also looks at his influence on many strands of popular music since the 1950's and demonstrates he was as influential as any of the bebop players. A great biography of a great musician. - BH.

[Mitch Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not during my 80+ years, in more than 70 years as a serious jazz player and listener, have I read such an incisive and entertaining book about a jazz landmark such as Dave Brubeck, and his band members. This is a MUST for anyone who loves jazz, and seeks to lift the hood on what lies below.
Mitch Smith

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley to read and review.

DAVE BRUBECK: A LIFE IN TIME is a biography written by author Phillip Clark that covers the music and life of Dave Brubeck; jazz pianist and bandleader best known for his 1959 album “Time Out”.

Clark compiled much of the information that makes up this book from interviews with Brubeck while traveling with Dave, his wife, and the band he was playing with later in his life and career.

A LIFE IN TIME includes in-depth analyses of Brubeck’s music; and I have to confess that much of the technical terminology used by the author is beyond my understanding (and possibly resulting from my lack of a formal education in theory of music). Another aspect of the writer’s style includes analogies to describe the music that didn’t provide me with an understanding of what he was attempting to describe, which when combined with references to future and past recordings made it even more difficult for someone not already familiar with Brubeck’s history like myself.

Something that was obvious was the author’s dedication to presenting an excellent and thorough presentation of the life and works of Dave Brubeck, but unfortunately I was unable to maintain interest for more than a chapter or two at a time as a result of what I’ve mentioned that seemed to get in the way of enjoying this book as much as I’d hoped to.

3 stars.

[Seth Arnopole · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a teenager, I started listening to jazz at the same time I became more serious about music. The only Brubeck LP we had was “Jazz Impressions of Japan,” so that was my entry point into his work. As time went on, I bought many of his albums, from all periods of his career. Eventually, I even got to meet him and his wife when an ensemble I was in premiered some of his choral works. I wish I had been able to have a real conversation with them; they were very nice, but I was so excited, I could barely speak.
I wasn’t sold on the non-chronological structure of Philip Clark’s book at first, but it grew on me. This is very much an examination of Dave Brubeck the musician rather than a full-fledged biography. Clark puts Brubeck’s music in its proper context, the stride piano and boogie-woogie influences as well as the counterpoint and polytonality (via his studies with composer Darius Milhaud, who also taught Burt Bacharach, among many others). To my delight, Clark shows appreciation for all eras of Brubeck’s sixty-ish years in the public eye. While most casual fans want to know about his work with the “classic quartet” in the 1950s and 60s (and the book devotes plenty of space to it), it’s refreshing to get to learn about Brubeck’s work beyond that period. To my mind, the adventurousness he displayed in his fifties is astonishing - check out his work with Lee Konitz and Anthony Braxton, or his ensemble with his sons, Two Generations of Brubeck.
The book’s discussion of Brubeck’s playing and composition styles is perceptive, showing just how different his approach was from peers like Bill Evans, Lennie Tristano, Thelonious Monk, etc. Critics, and sometimes even fellow musicians, were unable to pigeonhole him. He played “modern jazz,” but he was not really influenced by bebop. He was a “West Coast jazz” musician, but he wasn’t from the same LA scene as the players who were associated with that label and didn’t sound like them either. Those who objected said his playing was bombastic, he didn’t swing, he used so-called “classical” devices that didn’t belong in jazz, he was too cerebral, he was too “pop.” But somehow, his music resonated with the wider public, and he didn’t play it safe. The man continued to tour and compose until he was 90!

[Mickey McIntosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not really a biography per se. It's really more of a look at Brubeck's music, and he made some great music. However this book uses a lot of musical technical terms which takes away from the book, and makes it challenging to read at times. I would have to seen more about Brubeck's life and his music without the technical terms this book took. Good book, but not great.

[Ken Neubeck · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was very disappointed with this book. It is very disorganized without a timeline as it is mostly based on a series of interviews. Brubeck's childhood is covered late into the middle of the book. There is no discussion about Brubeck's conversion to the Catholic faith as to why he did this. Also, there is zero mention or any photos involving Brubeck's mass composition, "To Hope, A Celebration" that was written in 1999. It covers the album Time Out very well but not of Brubeck's later efforts. It is a very strangely written book without organization - not recommended.

[Matt Redmond · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could have been great but unless you are a musician or music theorist, a great deal of this book is nearly impenetrable. Far too much discussion of the intricacies of songs and too few stories. Also, there is no narrative flow whatsoever. You truly can be in three different decades in one paragraph. This is the norm. Felt like hubris from the author not a celebration of Brubeck.

Still waiting for *the* bio of Brubeck.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A riveting book that, though refusing to go chronologically, works through Brubeck's career (specifically focusing on the Octet and the famous Quartet). All fans of Brubeck will treasure this, though if you are not a musician, the descriptions of the execution of songs and concerts will leave you lost. Still, it's worth the read!

[Don Fisk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dave was born in Concord Ca in 1920, died Connecticut 2012.

A narrative densely packed with info (and gossip, maybe) about many of the jazz musicians of the 1950-1976 era + to a lesser extent 1976-2012. Quite a bit about Dave's early experience of Milhaud, Stravinsky, Bartok and Schonberg (all of who settled in the USA from 1940 onwards), and the effect this had on steering Dave away from the 1950s prevailing bebop (with its characteristic fast, busy and intricate improvisation on melody and chord progressions) towards a sort of cool approach, with the soloist improvising strongly on key changes (discusses Dave insisting on the Bass player staying in a constant key). Much about the changes in the group, Paul Desmond's coming, the iconic Quartet with Desmond, Morello and Wright of course, and other manifestations eg with Gerry Mulligan b. sax, interaction with Charlie Parker; and including the early Octet, which had a strong alignment with the chromatic ideas of Milhaud etc.

Tutored also by his mother (Bessie) who was fairly well down the path of a concert pianist career - her hopes dashed by her rancher husband moving the family to run a cattle ranch in remote Ione (Sacremento). In 1938 Dave started as a veterinary student at "The College of the Pacific" but quickly changed to take music classes. Subsequent to discharge from the Army (1946) Dave was tutored by Milhaud at Mills College (Oakland).

The incidental discussion about time signatures, other muso's of the time, and the music label (and executive) influence on recordings produced is fascinating. Hopefully the following quotes give an idea of the style:

Brubeck outlined the "three basic categories or levels of creativity in Jazz." An ideal state of improvisational grace is reached when an "effortless flow of new material" springs from the sub-conscious-"the performer at this level has neither desire nor need for a preconceived pattern because he knows that the music comes from a source of infinite imagination and limitless variety." But when that blissful state of creation hovers stubbornly out of reach, improvising musicians might hope to produce "an imaginative performance interspersed with 'quotes' (either personal or derivative) which intrude like the human ego into the flow of creative ideas" - and even when that spark of inspiration refuses to rise to the occasion, jazz musicians typically fall back on "backlog repertoire, in which runs and patterns, cadences and progressions are worked out to meet each situation."

At Mills College: In terms of the octet, the most important thing Milhaud taught us all- and you can hear it in the records-was about counterpoint, which helped us create our own sound. If you think back to what had been happening in the swing era, especially in the big bands-Duke Ellington, Basie, Benny Goodman-counterpoint was never really important. Blocks of harmony passing between the brass and the saxophones, that was how arrangers tended to think, and i loved those arrangements. And Milhaud never said that what jazz lacks these days is counterpoint. But because counterpoint was so important to the way he thought, we all latched on to that and it became important to us.
The reason, Milhaud said, that he never wrote-or cared for-twelve tone music is that in a twelve tone piece you are going nowhere in particular [harmonically], therefore you can't go anywhere. You think of Beethoven, or Stravinsky, he'd say, they are always leading you somewhere new, and for that to happen you need to move between keys. This, for Milhaud, was the basis of architecture in music.

We'd bring records to play for Milhaud. I remember Bill Smith coming along with Boyd Raeburn, who he loved, and I was very keen on Stan Kenton. Stan, along with Benny Goodman and Ellington, had played in Stockton when I was young, and I could tell even then Kenton was playing something different from standard big-band charts. By the time I was with Milhaud, I could hear that Kenton was putting different keys together and he was adventurous with rhythm-he'd obviously been studying Stravinsky.

Layering one raw tonality against a different tonality has a complex psychoacoustic effect. Chords retain their basic identities while spawning a spectrum of notes, now forced into unlikely alliances, that blend and clash unpredictably. The brain, hopefully, grasps increasingly complex interrelationships between unrelated chords as our ears acquire a taste for a tarter and more aromatic harmonic palette.

Hopefully these quotes give an idea of the intense, well informed discussion that Philip Clark presents. Also, if you have lingering doubts abouts Dave's Jazziness, listen to the fabulous gem (imho of course!) of "Ode to a Cowboy" which is described by Philip as:

Nothing could have been more fundamentally F minor than the first bar of that opening track [of "Jazz Impressions of the USA"], "Ode to a Cowboy", in which Brubeck's melodic line raised up the notes of an F minor chord, a starting point of harmonic security from which he moved his melody step by step keeping strictly within the tonal boundaries. But in bar 8 a sudden jolt-at exactly the midpoint of his sixteen bar structure- as this most minor of melodies was parked on a major chord; and when the melody repeated, it rebounded from this correspondingly distant vantage point, far outside F minor. And this harmonic shift was the piece. Without it, "Ode to a Cowboy" would have been a pleasant enough riding-bareback-through-the-prairies theme; with it came depth and variety. The learning that Milhaud had instilled into him ten years earlier, as they worked together on "Playland-at-the-Beach," was still taking Brubeck in new directions.

[Brandon Hollingsworth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book, and ended up quite disappointed. Mr. Clark sorely needed a better editor, one who wouldn’t have been so indulgent to Clark’s obsession with tediously analyzing Brubeck’s music. The non-chronological exercise is okay, but I felt it added nothing to the narrative or my understanding of Brubeck’s life and work. We get glimpses of what it was like when Dave and his colleagues performed, composed, recorded and toured. But far more time than necessary is spent on prolix digressive tours of the theory and structure of Brubeck’s music, and on biographical sketches or tertiary figures we don’t need to know in order to understand Dave’s life. Clark also has the unfortunate habit of tossing out references with no clarifying information. And at times he teases an event he never follows up on (for example, he foreshadows problems the Quartet encountered in recording the 1962 album “Countdown — Time in Outer Space,” but then he never tells us what they were. So why mention it?).

The capsule review: as I told my husband, “The parts about Dave Brubeck are pretty good.” The other four-fifths of the book…yikes.

[David Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brubeck received America’s top arts award, The Kennedy Center Honors in 2009 (along with Bruce Springsteen), which happened to coincide with Brubeck’s 89th birthday. An honor bestowed by President Obama with the words: “You can’t understand America without understanding jazz, and you can’t understand jazz without understanding Dave Brubeck.” Sadly, he died three years later. Improvisation was the very hallmark of his music. “Progressive jazz” eventually became its descriptive label. Few knew he couldn’t read music, yet he created a unique musical idiom that encapsulated much of the ’60s sound. One sure to endure. The book was enjoyed all the more while playing Brubeck’s great recordings, bringing back many good memories of the ’60s.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

to date, this is the most complete and well researched biography of one of the most successful jazz musicians of all time. Brubeck came of age as one of the "greatest generation" and went on to bring his own brand of west coast cool jazz into homes across America with his breakthrough hit album, "time Out" in 1959. Clark writes about the music, the times and Brubeck and his milieu. Recommend for any fan of jazz, music, and American history.

[Ralphz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me.

Sometimes jazz takes itself too seriously, as do jazz writers. This is one of those times.

There's a great story to be told about West Coast cool jazz vs. East Coast bebop, polyrhythms and the 1950s. But this is more of an insider look at insider music. Surprise, the author is a musician and composer himself, so it feels like he really is writing for other musicians and composers.

I love jazz, but as a joyful, melodic music, not as a Very Serious Statement.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I tend to think that great biographies, and great criticism, are written from a place of love. This book works well enough as a time-hopping (though hardly complete) summary of Brubeck’s life, but it’s more effective as a work of advocacy. Brubeck is an oft-misunderstood, oft-undervalued musician, and this book makes the case for him pretty well.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

The research is 5-star, but the writing is not. It’s a lot of name dropping and hyphenating of adverbs. I am a jazz pianist who studied the hell out of the life and works of Brubeck and other jazz and bop contempories; if this book confuses, befuddles, bores and infuriates me, then who exactly is it for?

[Anthony Bracciante · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book does a great job of telling the story of Dave Brubeck, I gave it 3 stars because of its constant use of technical music terms. If I had a degree in Music I would have given it 5 stars.

[N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, although the time sequencing breaks down in the last quarter. Some cheap shots at Teo Macero as as well.

[Mike Jurkovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine fine reading of Brubeck. Clark does tend to get a bit wordy with his song and music descriptions, but Brubeck was an innovator and man of conscience.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars. I would read this again and again if I didn’t have a lot more to do in my life.

[TiedGame · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to the audio version, which is well done, but GR didn't include a cover image for the audible version and I prefer to have an image in my lists rather than the blank.

[Scott Langston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating insight into Brubeck's music. Quite technical in places for a non-musician, but thorough and well-written.