Dave Brubeck smiling

The Voice of Brubeck

Series

The Voice of Brubeck delivers world-class performances and professional recordings of Dave Brubeck’s celebrated and yet previously-unrecorded choral and orchestral works, works that Brubeck regarded as among his finest. It offers a unique opportunity for audiences to experience and learn about Dave Brubeck’s music and for that music to be preserved for future generations of music lovers.  

Dave Brubeck had a transformative impact on American Jazz and his legacy continues to influence jazz musicians to this day. The classical music of Dave Brubeck, however, remains mostly unknown, remaining in the shadow of his prolific jazz output. After serving in Patton’s 3rd Army in WWII, Brubeck returned to the United States to study classical music composition, with Darius Milhaud in California. Although he found early and sustained success with his career as a jazz pianist and composer, he continued to create serious works of the highest quality, often inspired by his deep faith and devotion, right up until his passing in 2012. Not that long ago, Dave Brubeck’s jazz compositions were widely performed, but young audiences today are generally unfamiliar with Brubeck’s music. Through this project, audiences can gain access and appreciation for both his classical and jazz works. 

Presented by the Lago Vista Community Concerts Foundation and led by producer Arthur Gottschalk and executive director Aleks Savitski, the Voice of Brubeck results from collaboration between the Brubeck Brothers Quartet, the Grammy-Award winning Houston Chamber Choir, the Paul English Quartet, the saxophonist and composer Horace Alexander Young, and the recoding label Navona Records, while engaging local orchestras and some of Houston’s finest freelance musical talent. The collaborative work encompasses new arrangements of Dave Brubeck’s compositions, public performances of those works, education workshops and lectures, and recording sessions.

Brubeck! A Celebration, our inaugural performance with just under 1000 people in attendance, was a roaring success by any standard. The concert took place on June 1, 2024, at Stude Concert Hall of Rice University, and was received with great enthusiasm by the audience and by local media. It demonstrated that the musical brilliance of Dave Brubeck’s jazz and orchestral works, paired with the superb musicianship of Houston performers and our collaborators, can result in a unique artistic experience celebrating American music, transcending spiritual boundaries, and enriching audience on a personal level. The program was professionally recorded, and officially released by Navona Records, distributed by Naxos Records, on August 30, 2024.

 

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