Dave Brubeck

For a period in the late 1950s and early '60s, piano legend Dave Brubeck was perhaps the most famous jazz musician in the world, playing sold-out concerts around the globe, selling over a million copies of his landmark album Time Out and even scoring a Top 40 single with his signature song "Take Five." Born in Concord, CA, Brubeck grew up in a musical family and began playing the piano at a young age. He began his musical career in earnest while in the Army during World War II, forming one of the first racially integrated bands in the U.S. Armed Forces. After signing with the small San Francisco indie Fantasy Records, Brubeck formed The Dave Brubeck Quartet, featuring his longtime musical partner Paul Desmond on alto saxophone. One of the key groups in the formation of the west coast cool jazz scene, the Brubeck Quartet was particularly popular on college campuses, so much so that their 1954 debut for Columbia Records was called Jazz Goes To College. Brubeck's mainstream appeal was such that he was featured on the cover of Time magazine the same year. In 1958 the Dave Brubeck Quartet toured the Middle East and India on a tour sponsored by the U.S. State Department, where Brubeck found the unusual time signatures of local musicians inspiring. 1959's Time Out, which featured the Desmond-penned "Take Five" and Brubeck's own "Blue Rondo a la Turk," was the result; it quickly became one of the most beloved jazz records of all time. Even after the breakup of the quartet in 1967, Brubeck continued an active touring and recording schedule. He also maintained his self-appointed role as a worldwide ambassador of jazz, performing at the White House in 1964 and in the Soviet Union in 1987, where his band performed at the Moscow summit meeting between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev. Dave Brubeck died December 5, 2012, at the age of 91.