Legendary pianist and composer Dave Brubeck passed away on December 5, one day shy of his 92nd birthday.
I don’t remember when it happened but in high school I fell in love with jazz. Maybe it happened when I was casually scanning local radio stations and stumbled on the jazz station. There was something comforting about the seemingly improvisational nature of the sounds that allowed me to detach from the chaos of living in a house with six other people while still trying to be a good student and stay out of trouble.
As far as I knew, none of my friends were into jazz so it was one of those things I enjoyed on my own. Songs like one of the best selling jazz songs ever, Take Five, took me to another place. Dave Brubeck is often credited with having composed Take Five but it was actually Paul Desmond. Regardless, you can hear Dave Brubeck on the piano in this 1966 recording.