43 Facts About Dave Brubeck

David Warren Brubeck was an American jazz pianist and composer.

Dave Brubeck's style ranged from refined to bombastic, reflecting both his mother's classical training and his own improvisational skills.

Dave Brubeck was the recipient of several music awards and honors throughout his lifetime.

In 2008, Dave Brubeck was inducted into the California Hall of Fame, and a year later, he was given an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music.

Dave Brubeck had Swiss ancestry, while his maternal grandparents were English and German.

Dave Brubeck was born on December 6,1920, in Concord, California, and grew up in Ione, California.

Dave Brubeck's father, Peter Howard "Pete" Brubeck, was a cattle rancher, while his mother, Elizabeth, who had studied piano in England under Myra Hess and intended to become a concert pianist, taught piano for extra money.

Dave Brubeck did not intend to become a musician, although his two older brothers, Henry and Howard, were already on that track.

Dave Brubeck volunteered to play piano at a Red Cross show; the show was a resounding success, and Brubeck was spared from combat service.

Dave Brubeck created one of the US armed forces' first racially integrated bands, "The Wolfpack".

Dave Brubeck was a student of Darius Milhaud, who encouraged him to study fugue and orchestration, but not classical piano.

The first Dave Brubeck records sold well, and he made new records for Fantasy.

In June 1954, Dave Brubeck released Jazz Goes to College, with double bassist Bob Bates and drummer Joe Dodge.

Dave Brubeck was featured on the cover of Time in November 1954, the second jazz musician to be featured, following Louis Armstrong in February 1949.

Dave Brubeck personally found this acclaim embarrassing, since he considered Duke Ellington more deserving and was convinced that he had been favored as a Caucasian.

In 1956, Dave Brubeck hired drummer Joe Morello, who had been working with Marian McPartland; Morello's presence made possible the rhythmic experiments that were to come.

Dave Brubeck canceled a television appearance when he found out that the producers intended to keep Wright off-camera.

At its peak in the early 1960s, the Dave Brubeck Quartet was releasing as many as four albums a year.

Apart from the "College" and the "Time" series, Dave Brubeck recorded four LP records featuring his compositions based on the group's travels, and the local music they encountered.

Dave Brubeck merely plays himself, with the film featuring close-ups of his piano fingerings.

Dave Brubeck served as the program director of WJZZ-FM while recording for the quartet.

Dave Brubeck achieved his vision of an all-jazz format radio station along with his friend and neighbor John E Metts, one of the first African Americans in senior radio management.

Dave Brubeck produced The Gates of Justice in 1968, a cantata mixing Biblical scripture with the words of Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

Dave Brubeck's music was used in the 1985 film Ordeal by Innocence.

Dave Brubeck founded the Dave Brubeck Institute with his wife, Iola, at their alma mater, the University of the Pacific in 2000.

In 2008, Dave Brubeck became a supporter of the Jazz Foundation of America in its mission to save the homes and the lives of elderly jazz and blues musicians, including those who had survived Hurricane Katrina.

Dave Brubeck supported the Jazz Foundation by performing in its annual benefit concert "A Great Night in Harlem".

Dave Brubeck married jazz lyricist Iola Whitlock in September 1942; the couple were married for 70 years, until his death in 2012.

Darius, named after Dave Brubeck's mentor Darius Milhaud and the eldest, is a pianist, producer, educator and performer.

Dave Brubeck became a Catholic in 1980, shortly after completing the Mass To Hope which had been commissioned by Ed Murray, editor of the national Catholic weekly Our Sunday Visitor.

In 2006, Dave Brubeck was awarded the University of Notre Dame's Laetare Medal, the oldest and most prestigious honor given to American Catholics, during the university's commencement.

Dave Brubeck performed "Travellin' Blues" for the graduating class of 2006.

Dave Brubeck died of heart failure on December 5,2012, in Norwalk, Connecticut, one day before his 92nd birthday.

Dave Brubeck was on his way to a cardiology appointment, accompanied by his son Darius.

In 1975, the main-belt asteroid 5079 Dave Brubeck was named after Dave Brubeck.

Dave Brubeck recorded five of the seven tracks of his album Jazz Goes to College in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Dave Brubeck returned to Michigan many times, including a performance at Hill Auditorium where he received a Distinguished Artist Award from the University of Michigan's Musical Society in 2006.

Dave Brubeck was presented with a "Benjamin Franklin Award for Public Diplomacy" by United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in 2008 for offering an American "vision of hope, opportunity and freedom" through his music.

At the ceremony, Dave Brubeck played a brief recital for the audience at the State Department.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver announced on May 28,2008, that Dave Brubeck would be inducted into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.

On October 18,2008, Dave Brubeck received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.

On May 16,2010, Dave Brubeck was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the George Washington University in Washington, DC The ceremony took place on the National Mall.

On July 5,2010, Dave Brubeck was awarded the Miles Davis Award at the Montreal International Jazz Festival.