'The rhythm of your heart.... it's the last thing you hear':

Dave Brubeck: Sui Generis

To justify the inclusion of Dave Brubeck (1920-2102) in this series we need to consider whether the musical genre of jazz in which he achieved his greatest success can itself be regarded as great. Brubeck himself spoke of it as the purest form of music, a declaration that cannot be ignored when made by one who was exposed to classical music from early childhood, took a degree and followed post-graduate training in it and went on to become a prolific composer of it. Let us consider the genre briefly.

Jazz originated with the blues , an early twentieth century American folk-art that was primarily sung and characterised by its mournful ("blue") mood, fluctuation between major and minor keys and syncopation involving the accentuation of the second and fourth upbeats rather than the first and third downbeats in common time. As instrumentalists took up the form improvisation came to play a dominant part in performance, and strong melodic lines involving considerable virtuosity were developed by the pianist's right hand as well as by the wind instruments.

Harmony was essentially supportive of the tonalities established by the improvisation which itself generally followed that of the basic song melody. As increasing sophistication set in the melodic line became more chromatic and harmony followed suit though remaining subservient.

Noteworthy music

Brubeck did his post-graduate work with Darius Milhaud, the modern French composer who had emigrated to the USA. He had been a member of Les Six, a group of avant garde Continental composers which included Georges Auric who composed the music for the film 'Le Moulin Rouge.' Their music was noteworthy for dissonance as caused by polytonality and atonality, Milhaud himself being also influenced occasionally by the tonal colouring of jazz. Milhaud developed Brubecks skills in harmony, counterpoint and composition but urged him to take up jazz rather than classical piano.

Brubeck's choice of a career in jazz composition and performance led to harmony ceasing to be merely supportive of the melody and becoming an integral part of the jazz musical experience.

His harmonies were not just sophisticatedly chromatic like that of contemporary jazz pianists but, under his teacher's influence, densely dissonant. A jazz commentator has said that Brubeck's chords contained more notes that anyone else's. It is also true to say that his music contained more chords than anyone else's. All ten figures seemed to be employed most of the time.

And thus, with the emergence of harmony influenced by modern classical music, jazz entered the musical mainstream. It is said that Brubeck brought the world of music into jazz, but it is more correct to say that he brought jazz into the classical music tradition. Wherein lay the specific point of entry?

Variation Form had always been a prominent part of classical music. A straightforward theme, specifically composed for the purpose or borrowed from elsewhere, was stated and thereafter subjected to a series of variations.

These generally featured the same harmonic structure as the original theme. Harmony played as much, if not more, of a part in the variations as melody, the degree of modulation sometimes, as in the case of Beethoven, rendering the variations scarcely identifiable with the theme.. In jazz, the song taken over from popular music or specifically composed for jazz rendition is similarly subjected to variation by the different instruments based on the same harmonic progression.

The difference, however, is that the jazz variations are not composed but improvised by the musicians in the course of performance. Both classical and jazz variations invariably end with a restatement of the basic theme.

Classical counterpart

And it is with harmony coming to the fore that jazz variations as played by Brubeck took their place alongside their classical counterpart. When you listen to Beethoven's rendition even of the starting theme you are struck by the subtlety of the harmonic arrangement, however diatonic or non-dissonant it may be. Consider, for example, the the way Beethoven takes over the somewhat trite theme composed by his publisher Diabelli and how impressively and appealingly he states it before embarking on his thirty three variations upon it. I know of an accomplished local pianist who was even more impressed with the theme than with the variations. Brubeck can likewise take the simplest popular tune, say 'Copenhagen', and transform it through harmonic presentation before, like Beethoven, going on to produce even more striking variations on it.

Thus did Brubeck challenge jazz by placing chordal complexity on equal terms with melodic variety and rhythmic energy. But he also took up the challenge of jazz itself, in that its demand for improvisation had now to be met harmonically a well as melodically, thereby testing the creative ability of the performer to the limit. This helps us to understand his choice of and dedication to jazz.

Not only did its newfound harmonic scope put it on par with classical music, its improvisatory character seemed to enrich music further. Relevant in this connection is Brubeck's recollection of what Stravinsky, one of modern classical music's greatest innovators, had said: "If composers were only more aware that Bach improvised every Sunday in a church, and that Mozart could be hired to come to your home and he would take the gig (engagement)." As Brubeck goes on to comment: : "The classical people should know more about their tradition, that improvisation was expected at certain periods. Cadenzas always meant 'let the soloist improvise'. Where did we lose our way?" We might add that in his day Beethoven was much in demand as an improviser. One wonders how many of his compositional ideas might have first occurred to him in the course of improvisation. And what a treasure trove of Beethoven's music-making must have been lost to us through the inability to preserve his improvised performances!

The reference to Beethoven reminds us of a further contribution by him to the jazz-inclusive musical tradition. Not just syncopation -which had always been resorted to by classical composers as Beethoven, for example, uses it in the Alegretto movement of his 'Moonlight' Sonata where the first section develops a delightful lilt with the accentuation of the second beat of its triple time - but swing rhythm itself. Beethoven was probably the first classical composer to "swing" in the jazz sense of adopting the driving form of continuous syncopation referred to in the second paragraph above. The third variation of the great Aria movement of his last piano sonata Op.111 is entirely "swung" in this manner. We seem to be listening to jazz piano in the Beethoven style without rhythm accompaniment.

Miles Davis, the famous jazz trumpeter, once said to Brubeck,"You swing, but the rest of your group don't." This fidelity to the swinging character of jazz despite his classical training is doubtless yet another reason why Brubeck considered jazz to be the purest form of music. He once said, "One of the reasons I believe in jazz is that the oneness of man can come throught the rhythm of your heart... It's the same anyplace in the world, that heartbeat. It's the first thing you hear when you're born - or before you're born - and it's the last thing you hear." These words take on a particular poignancy when we consider that Dave Brubeck died of heart failure on his way to an appointment with his cardiologist.

In the next article we hope to look rather more closely at the music Brubeck produced wth his famous quartet comprising, besides himself, Paul Desmond on the alto-saxophone, Joe Morello on the drums and Gene wright on the double-bass. The last named was an exceptionally fine bassist, but the other three were without a doubt the greatest jazz exponents of their respective instruments.