Rediscovering Dave Brubeck

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Initially aired on PBS, Rediscovering Brubeck offers a warm retrospective of Dave Brubeck's influential and groundbreaking career as one of jazz music's most popular pianists and composers. From Brubeck's early dreams of being a cowboy to the classical music education that led him to pioneer innovative rhythms in his compositions, this film summarizes Brubeck's extraordinary career through archival footage, photographs, and home movies, while simultaneously maintaining a clear focus on Brubeck's current activities as an actively admired jazz musician. Having just turned octogenarian at the time of filming, Brubeck is revealed as a lastingly vibrant, funny, and insightful artist in a series of thoughtful interviews (many filmed at Brubeck's home with his wife and sometimes collaborator, Iola Brubeck, by his side). As this is the first feature-length documentary on Brubeck, his fans, and all fans of jazz, are hereby called to take five and settle in with this rewarding portrayal of a true living (and playing) legend of jazz music. A generous selection of special features on the disc includes additional excerpts from live performances, as well as not-to-be-missed footage of Brubeck in rehearsal with his four sons, all musicians themselves. --Karl Wachter

Customer Reviews:

Jazz Master, Dave Brubeck (with Hedrick Smith).......2004-01-12

Dave Brubeck is a jazz pianist and composer who has created some of the best, most popular, and most original jazz to date. His album, "Time Out", released in 1959, was the first million-selling jazz album. His experimentation with unusual time signatures is one thing that gave his music its own sound. His importance to jazz is inarguable. "Rediscovering Dave Brubeck" does a phenomenal job of presenting Dave Brubeck's life within the framework of his music. In Full Screen Format and Dolby Digital 2.0, the audio and video quality are excellent. When Dave Brubeck is not playing the piano, his music is in the background.

The interviews are conducted in Dave and wife Iola's home. At 80, he is still performing and writing music. His piano playing is magic! Dave Brubeck's story unfolds from his upbringing with a musician mother and cowboy father to the days when he was the only pianist in town without a gig on New Year's Eve to his current performance in Berlin. His contribution to music and music history is discussed, but perhaps not in the technical detail that a musician might like. However, there is plenty of detail about critical decisions that Dave Brubeck made during his career, his motivations, the people who influenced him, and the impact that those decisions had on his career. Old photographs, newspaper clippings, and old movie footage are presented. (For more information, see pbs.org and search on Brubeck.) Hedrick Smith, Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times correspondent, is an amazing interviewer, of course.

The extras:
* At home with Dave and Iola Brubeck
* "Unsquare Dance" with the London Symphony Orchestra
* Dave talks about the art of creativity
* "In Your Own Sweet Way" rehearsal with Brubeck and sons
* Dave and Iola talk about the process of collaboration
* "Take Five" excerpt from University of the Pacific concert
* Backstage in Berlin, Germany

The extras include another 30 minutes of material. (The rehearsal with his sons is nearly 9 minutes long.) These are not fluff, they contain substantial interviews and performances. They are a similar video and audio quality to the 57 minute biography. I would have liked to have seen "Take Five" in its entirety, rather than a 3 minute excerpt. I highly recommend this DVD to any Dave Brubeck fan. "Rediscovering Dave Brubeck" is a glimpse into Dave Brubeck the man, and an in-depth look into Dave Brubeck the musician.

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