![]() When he returned from service, he enrolled at Mills College in California where he studied composition with Darius Milhaud. with his quartet (which included African American bassist Eugene Wright), Brubeck cancelled numerous performances in venues that refused to host a mixed-race band. In an Army that was still segregated, he formed a band that included an African American trombone player. But once his commanding officer heard him play music he was recruited to perform for soldiers. Upon graduating from college he was drafted into the Army during World War II. It was also at the College of the Pacific that he met Iola Whitlock, who in addition to later becoming his wife, was also at times his manager and artistic collaborator throughout their 70-year-long marriage. Already playing music professionally, he switched his major to music. Though music was an integral part of his upbringing, when he entered the College of the Pacific (now University of the Pacific) in Stockton, California he was planning on a career in ranching like his father. ![]() In spite of this, Brubeck was exposed to a wide variety of music, and was playing in local dance and jazz bands by age 13. He first learned piano from his mother, a classical pianist (and pupil of two of the century’s great piano masters, Tobias Matthay and Dame Myra Hess) who favored playing music to the point that she forbade her children from listening to the radio. Of equal importance is the fact that his commitment to social justice remained a core value throughout his career and infused some of his most important works.īrubeck was born in Concord, California and grew up on a ranch-run by his father-in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. And while he is probably most widely known as a jazz musician, his body of work encompassed classical and choral music, as well as liturgical pieces, and often reflected his interest in working beyond the boundaries of genre and style. Dave Brubeck maintained an active and highly decorated career as a composer and performer for more than six decades.
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