BRUBECK, DAVE

born Dec. 6, 1920, Concord, Calif., U.S. byname of David Warren Brubeck American pianist-composer who brought elements of classical music into jazz. Brubeck was taught piano by his mother from the age of four and began practicing the cello at nine. He worked as a pianist with local jazz groups from 1933 and studied in music at the College of the Pacific (194142), Fresno, Calif., where he formed and led a 12-piece orchestra. He studied composition at Mills College, Oakland, Calif., under the French composer Darius Milhaud and, after serving in the U.S. Army, resumed studies under Arnold Schoenberg, the inventor of the 12-tone system of composition. Of that episode Brubeck is quoted as having said, We didn't get on well at all. In 1946 Brubeck formed an experimental octet, followed by a trio in 1949 and a quartet from 1951 to 1967. The quartetwhich featured the lilting grace of saxophonist Paul Desmond and, in the 1960s, flirted with what for jazz of that period were abstruse metres (e.g., 5/4)became the best-known jazz unit in the world. In spite of his success with the general public, Brubeck as a pianist was never wholeheartedly accepted as a master by the jazz world. From the 1970s on, he toured and recorded, primarily using his sons as personnel. Brubeck was a prolific and original composer, his best-known tunes including The Duke, In Your Own Sweet Way, and Blue Rondo a la Turk.