Wilton Library is home to more than 22,000 catalog items of The Dave Brubeck Collection, one of the largest archives in the world devoted to a single musician. The collection puts Wilton on par with only a handful of the most elite research and historical institutions internationally. Now to mark Tuesday’s (April 30, 2024) International Jazz Day, Wilton Library launched a digital archive, bringing The Brubeck Collection to the world.
Michael Bellacosa is the Brubeck Collection Curator and Head of Adult Programming for Wilton Library. He gave GOOD Morning Wilton an exclusive tour inside the archive room for an early look at the digital archive.
“Now that we’ve got this ability to reach out into the world and connect with all different kinds of people and organizations, it releases the collection from this room,” Bellacosa said.
“The peer group that we’re in, if you look at jazz archives related to an individual performing musician, is Duke Ellington materials at the Smithsonian; Ella Fitzgerald materials at the Library of Congress; Benny Goodman materials at Yale; Louie Armstrong has an entire house and music center in Queens. And then there’s us with the Brubeck Collection,” he said.
On GMW‘s video tour, Bellacosa shared a glimpse at one of the most prized items in the collection — original studio recordings from 1959 of the Brubeck Quartet‘s first attempts to play “Take Five” in the studio.
“Take Five” was a track on Brubeck’s acclaimed 1959 album Time Out — the first jazz album to sell one million copies. “Take Five” became a top-40 hit, and remains the biggest-selling jazz single of all time.
The Brubeck family decided the collection belonged in the town the musical legend and his wife, Iola called home and where they raised their six children. Now, thanks to Wilton Library, the collection — including unreleased musical recordings, rare photos, memorabilia, sheet music records, and more — is accessible to a global audience and can be searched, browsed and viewed by anyone online.
The collection also includes materials attesting to the important role Brubeck played in the Civil Rights Movement and promoting racial equality. During his World War II service, Brubeck’s Wolf Pack Band was the first integrated military band, and in later years, he refused to play anywhere audiences were segregated. One prized document in the collection is a letter from the University of Alabama’s music department chair thanking Brubeck for helping him integrate a 1964 university concert despite threats from the Ku Klux Klan.
“Not only did that concert then go off without a hitch and everybody had a great time, but all the concerts after that were integrated audiences,” Bellacosa said.
Wilton Library has taken extraordinary steps to allow anyone to take a groundbreaking, deeper dive into Brubeck’s world — from curiosity seekers and fans, to researchers, authors and academics.
“We’ll also offer online exhibits, which people can view the same way they would view an exhibit at a museum,” Bellacosa said.
“We were also able to add a couple of [interactive] featured tours and featured songs where people will be able to go into those and then find all the items in the collection that we have that are related to those tours and songs,” he said, adding, “and you can follow the song through time.”
Bellacosa is thrilled that modern technology allows the library to share Brubeck’s legacy more widely. The digital launch of The Brubeck Collection is also significant for the town of Wilton.
“It totally raises the awareness and appreciation of people who live here — sometimes people who’ve lived here for a long time — that a great jazz legend was living only a few miles away from where we’re sitting right now,” he said.
“At the same time, because of the significance of Dave, and the significance of these materials, it really puts the town of Wilton on the global map of jazz history. It truly is unique and it’s an enormously significant asset for the town and for the world,” he added.