Brubeck's 80th Birthday

One of the most important jazz pianists of the 20th century is currently playing in Germany. Dave Brubeck, who is celebrating his 80th birthday today, has been in the limelight with various quartets since the 1950's. In 1959, he went down in history when he wrote the song "Take Five," which was written in five/four -- a measure that was unheard-of at the time. According to Brubeck, Take Five is the most-played jazz piece today, and his "Blue Rondo a la Turk" is another standard work he wrote. However, the jazz pianist has much more to offer. For instance, he has written several religious works and fugues, just like Johann Sebastian Bach. Brubeck, who admires Bach very much. As a young man, he studied in California with Darius Milhaud, the composer, and as a child, he received a lot of inspiration from his parents. His mother was a piano teacher who had her students play Bach. His father ran a ranch in Northern California, and this also had an impact of young Brubeck's artistic development, as Georg Hirsch learned in a conversation with Dave Brubeck.

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