Letter: Wilton Enjoyed Learning More about Dave Brubeck’s Revolutionary Genius at Library Series

To the Editor:

The extraordinary music and life of Wilton’s own Dave Brubeck has been a special scholarly focus of Music Professor Gil Harel, who showcased his encyclopedic knowledge of his subject matter with video illustrations and his own performance at the keyboard recently in three presentations at Wilton Library. His scholarly work is facilitated by Library Brubeck Collection Curator Michael Bellacosa.

All of us in Wilton are very fortunate that the Brubeck family chose to locate the Collection here instead of one of the major national institutions vying for it. This large collection provides access to a treasure trove for scholars like Harel as well as for interested listeners who want to enjoy the enormous volume of truly revolutionary work that Brubeck’s career embraced.

Harel opened with a session on Brubeck’s foreign travels and the ensuing albums, reflecting the musical forms of the regions visited, embellished by his mastery of a vast array of unusual rhythms. Brubeck’s travels took him around the world as a “musical ambassador” for our country. As Harel wittily put it, “When the State Department found it had screwed up, Brubeck was called in to fix it!” Indeed, Brubeck’s masterful job of “fixing” resonated strongly with his belief in the power of music to bring people together no matter their differences.

The series’ second session focused on Brubeck’s incredible rhythmic ingenuity. Western music for centuries has been principally limited to either 4/4 or 3/4 time. Brubeck exploded that rhythmic straightjacket in amazing directions with meters of 5/4, 7/4, 11/4, 9/8 and even 13/8. His work demonstrated what could be done with these new meters and motivated musicians from the 1950s onward to include his new meters in their own repertoire.

Harel’s third session (held on the eve of what would have been Dave’s 104th birthday) focused on Brubeck’s remarkable work in sacred music composition and performance. Brubeck’s World War II experiences with death, destruction and Nazi horrors fueled both his desire to make the world better and safer and his strong advocacy for social justice. With it came his interest in matters of faith, which led to his mid-life baptism at Wilton’s Our Lady of Fatima Parish.

Brubeck’s range of sacred music compositions is broad, and his works are moving and powerful. Some of us had the extraordinarily special opportunity of performing them with Brubeck and his sons in church choirs at Our Lady of Fatima and St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church for which Brubeck appeared twice. The words for more than a few of these compositions were authored by Dave’s wife Iola, inspired by both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.

As one example of Brubeck’s sacred music, Harel showed an excerpt from the 1997 performance in Moscow of his Mass “To Hope,” sung by a large chorus with Brubeck at the piano joined by his quartet (including remarkable saxophonist Bobby Militello) and with full orchestral accompaniment. Seeing the joyous smile radiating from Dave’s face as he enjoyed Militello’s virtuosity underscores another striking point: Brubeck’s tremendous encouragement of those around him and his longstanding work with his quartet and especially with Paul Desmond.

What finally brought the pressures of travel and performance time away from home to an end was Dave’s desire to spend more time with his family. Harel shared excerpts from the remarkable albums, Two Generations of Brubeck and In Their Own Sweet Way, on which Dave performed with his then-grown older sons Darius, Chris, Dan and Matthew.

Harel emphasized the truly revolutionary character of Brubeck’s accomplishments, not only in virtuoso performance but also in composition novelty in ways the general public has largely been unaware yet which deserve great recognition. He also underscored the extent to which family remained Dave’s personal centerpiece throughout his life.

Special note: Jerry Bergonzi, who toured with the Two Generations of Brubeck band and later held the sax chair in the Dave Brubeck Quartet, performed Saturday in the Library’s “Hot & Cool Jazz Series.” He was joined by 23-year-old Alan Bartus, one of the top jazz pianists of his generation, who received the 2024 Dave Brubeck Composer and Pianist Award. They performed some of Dave’s compositions as well as their own and others in a glorious performance reflecting both their enormous individual talents and their joy in playing together.

Steve Hudspeth