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The Brubeck Brothers Quartet to play two shows in New Mexico
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The Brubeck brothers grew up surrounded by music. Their father Dave Brubeck was a pioneer of the cool jazz movement. Now, they are carrying on the family legacy as the Brubeck Brothers Quartet.
The quartet will play at the Taos Center for the Arts on Friday, Oct. 17, and in Albuquerque at Cibola High School on Saturday, Oct. 18.
Chris Brubeck and his brother, Dan, began playing with their father in the mid-70s, but have been surrounded by musicians their whole lives.
“We went from being rugrats crawling under the piano to hear my father’s famous quartet rehearse,” Brubeck said. “To jump forward, 15 years, and we were playing at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and with these guys.”
Brubeck likened music in the family to an Olympic baton race, with his dad as the fountainhead and originator, and the brothers continuing the work.
“Rather than just riding his coattails, we helped stitch the coattails,” Brubeck said.
Brubeck still holds on to the lessons he learned from his father, who died in 2012, namely the importance of listening to each musician.
“That this is the hallmark of what we learned to do growing up with him as a major paternal and leader influence, and it still continues,” Brubeck said. “It’s just there are timeless principles of music making that go on.”
Brubeck said what has kept him playing is the joy of it. He loves hearing his brother playing drum solos and seeing the audience go nuts.
Brubeck said to connect with audiences, he tries to tell stories about the origins of tunes or the significance of the music to his father.
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“I said, ‘This is a tune my father wrote when he found out he was coming back from fighting in Europe and World War II, and wanting (his) wife to know that she didn’t have to be sad,’” Brubeck said. “And it’s called ‘Weep No More.’”
Brubeck said audience members come up to him after shows, saying they understand the music so much better knowing the story behind it.
“Even amongst that set of music lovers, there are people there that will understand the humanistic story of what inspired a song more than they’ll actually understand the music,” Brubeck said. “They’ll understand the feeling of the music, and they’ll understand it better because they know what inspired it in the first place.”
The quartet has put their own music on a backseat to celebrate Dave Brubeck’s music, he said. However, he noted that they are reaching a point where they should start celebrating their own creativity just as much.
“Many things are important in modern jazz, but we grew up playing with him, hearing that kind of music and also propagating it and playing with him all over the world,” Brubeck said. “So it’s a great thing. It feels like it’s our mission in life, and we still do it.”
