Brubeck, fans have serious fun
The venerable pianist effectively mixes jazz and classical elements with help from about 90 Russians.
August 21, 2002
By STEVE EDDY
The Orange County Register
The cover of one of Dave Brubeck's mid-'50s releases for Columbia has him seated at the keyboard, grinning while a knockout babe seductively leans on the piano. What really stands out on that cover of "Jazz: Red, Hot and Cool," though, is Brubeck's trademark glasses: big, thick-rimmed black ones. Those specs became as familiar to many in that decade as any Ike campaign button or Sputnik.
The glasses. Yes, even then, David Warren Brubeck looked serious about music. He's been mainly a jazz guy, credited with "Time Out" (1959), the most popular jazz recording of all time. But Brubeck also has composed and performed in a variety of "classical" modes worldwide, including major symphonic, choral and dance works.
On Monday night, Brubeck, still quite spry and dexterous at 81, found the best of both worlds at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts. Backed by the sprawling Russell Gloyd-conducted Russian National Orchestra, with whom he has worked quite a bit, he and the current version of his fabled quartet rendered several warhorses from the Brubeck stable, as well as pieces in a more longhair vein.
Brubeck's combo - alto saxist Bobby Militello, drummer Randy Jones and son Chris Brubeck on bass (filling in for Michael Moore) - melded well with the wall-to-wall orchestra. Militello in particular is a fiery and ferocious soloist who was heavily featured on most numbers, blowing mostly in a Charlie Parker style but able to summon Brubeck's most famous comrade, Paul Desmond, at times, and reach into Ornette Coleman territory when the music called for it.
A standout number was "A Salute to the Count," a bouncy tribute that sounds a bit like "Jumpin' at the Woodside." The long piece had the Russians swinging and Brubeck dashing off a few Basie-esque flourishes at the keyboard as well as a smile-inducing honky-tonk interlude. An extra added attraction, the Debussy-like "Regret," composed by Brubeck on a visit to Russia in the '90s, featured the orchestra's silky-smooth strings and a painfully pretty piano turn by the composer.
What the crowd came to hear, of course, were the classics - both from "Time Out" - and they were delivered with gusto and verve. "Blue Rondo a la Turk" (it always sounded kind of classical anyway) had Brubeck playing in an almost bombastic, two-fisted style and a very sultry and bluesy Militello quoting humorously from "I'm Beginning to See the Light." And jazz's most famous anthem, "Take Five," had the crowd whooping and hollering as the quartet and orchestra reached new levels of intensity. A long and stirring solo by Jones was a mighty crowd-pleaser.
At the end of a swinging encore, "Take the 'A' Train," those in the nearly packed house walked out beaming.
The show opened with the orchestra, conducted by Carlo Ponti Jr., delivering Tchaikovsky's rousing "Capriccio Italien" and a bravura "Rhapsody in Blue." The latter was arranged by Timofei Dokshitzer for trumpet, and the horn of Vlad Lavrik was pure, sonorous and soaring. George Gershwin's beloved work sounds much different in this variation but not a bit less thrilling.