Dave Brubeck was in fact a renaissance man.  He fought in WWII’s Battle of the Bulge, and was a major jazz innovator and composer, particularly in light of his incredible album, Take Five.

Brubeck died in Norwalk, Connecticut today, while enroute a cardiology appointment with his son Darius accompanying him.  He passed away, ironically, one day short of his 92nd birthday.

He was a master composer, a writer of changing time signatures and challenging meters.

Here, Take Five played by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, in Belgium, 1964:

Dave Brubeck – piano
Paul Desmond – alto saxophone
Eugene Wright – bass
Joe Morello – drums

Take Five was the first jazz album to sell one million copies.

Brubeck broke convention by playing in black jazz clubs in the 1950s.

“Jazz is about freedom within discipline,” Brubeck said in a 2005 interview with AP. “Usually a dictatorship like in Russia and Germany will prevent jazz from being played because it just seemed to represent freedom, democracy and the United States.

“Many people don’t understand how disciplined you have to be to play jazz. … And that is really the idea of democracy — freedom within the Constitution or discipline. You don’t just get out there and do anything you want.”

A very nice tribute to Dave Brubeck’s life here.

Dave Brubeck, ca 1950.

Finally, Blue Rondo a la Turk, the first cut from the ground-breaking album Take Five:

Goodbye to Dave Brubeck.  The world lost an overall great and kind man, and a great jazz pianist and artist.

BZ