Dave Brubeck live at the 2001 Litchfield Jazz Festival
Photo: Steve Sussman

“Dave has lost none of his youthful vigor and exuberance that inform his playing...[He] is the epitome of jazz piano class and excellence...” - Keyboard Magazine

Raised on a farm in Concord, California by his cattle-rancher father and pianist mother, young Dave Brubeck aspired to follow in his father’s footsteps. At the same time he became fascinated with jazz and began playing piano professionally by his early teens. Still, he enrolled at the College of the Pacific in California where he planned to become a veterinarian and return to the ranch. He supported his studies by playing jazz gigs in local clubs and, luckily for us, he changed his major to music.

Over the span of his career, Mr. Brubeck, who is now 87 years old, has played with the likes of Cal Tjader, Ron Crotty, Paul Desmond, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan, Louis Armstrong, Jimmy Rushing, Carmen McRae, Roy Hargrove, and many more. Beyond the jazz world, he has collaborated with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic and with the Murray Louis Dance Company on an international tour.