Darius Brubeck is a jazz keyboardist and educator. He is the son of jazz legend Dave Brubeck

Dave Brubeck

David Warren "Dave" Brubeck is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills...

. He spent many years in Durban

Durban

Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...

, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 as a professor and head of the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music at the University of Natal

University of Natal

The University of Natal was a university in Natal, and later KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, that is now part of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. It was founded in 1910 as the Natal University College in Pietermaritzburg, and expanded to include a campus in Durban in 1931. In 1947, the university...

.

Brubeck was born in San Francisco, California

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

. He majored in ethnomusicology

Ethnomusicology

Ethnomusicology is defined as "the study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local and global contexts."Coined by the musician Jaap Kunst from the Greek words ἔθνος ethnos and μουσική mousike , it is often considered the anthropology or ethnography of music...

 and the history of religion at Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...

 graduating cum laude. Brubeck holds an MPhil from Nottingham University. "He was awarded a Bellagio Project Residency (Rockefeller Foundation

Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...

) as Composer in 2005 and received 'Outstanding Service to Jazz Education' awards in 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2005 and 2006." Darius performed (with all 3 of his brothers) at the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors

Kennedy Center Honors

The Kennedy Center Honors is an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture. The Honors have been presented annually since 1978 in Washington, D.C., during gala weekend-long events which culminate in a performance for—and...

Gala when his father received a medal for his lifetime contribution to American culture. President and Mrs Obama were in the audience. Darius currently teaches and performs in Europe.

Early career

During the 1970s and early ‘80s, pianist Brubeck led his own groups, played with Don McLean, Larry Coryell and toured the world with Two Generations of Brubeck and The New Brubeck Quartet (Dave, Darius, Chris and Dan Brubeck). Several albums were recorded along the way.

Teaching

His focus changed to South Africa in 1983, when he initiated the first degree course in Jazz Studies offered by an African university. He taught at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban, South Africa and was later appointed Director of the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music, where he remained until 2006. After leaving full-time teaching, he was made a Senior Research Associate of the School of Music. While based in London, Darius has taught courses at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Brunel University. He has an M.Phil Degree from Nottingham University, where he also taught jazz history for a year.

South Africa

For 15 years Darius Brubeck and Afro Cool Concept (a band with South Africa’s premier alto saxophonist, Barney Rachabane toured all over southern Africa and overseas. The band’s last CD, “Still On My Mind” was released in 2003 on Sheer Sound. Other recordings released by Sheer include “Before It’s Too Late” (2004) and “Tugela Rail and Other Tracks” (2007).

International tours included a series of concerts celebrating 10 years of democracy in South Africa. In 2004 together again with his brothers (Chris and Dan), Darius headlined at the National Arts “Joy of Jazz Festival”, South Africa and directed the South African National Youth Jazz Band at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland.

Beginning in 1988 with “The Jazzanians”, the first mixed-race student band from a South African university, Brubeck formed several bands that officially represented his university and South Africa. He was also invited to play and/or give workshops in the UK, Europe, Turkey, Peru, and Thailand and at five International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE) conferences in the USA.

Composer

Apart from writing for his own bands, Darius’ arrangements and a composition for Dave Brubeck's 80th birthday can be heard on “Dave Brubeck – Live with the LSO” (2000). In 2005, the Rockefeller Foundation awarded Darius a residency as a composer at the Bellagio Study and Conference Center in Italy. In 2004, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra commissioned a piece by Darius and Zim Ngqawana, setting music to extracts from speeches by Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. These were read by Morgan Freeman at the New York premiere.

Gathering Forces

Gathering Forces was the name of Darius’ former fusion band in the '70s and early '80s which recorded “Earthrise”. A later version of GF featuring Deepak Ram on bansuri recorded “Gathering Forces 2” and now Darius' new CD label, which released “For Lydia and the Lion” and “Earthrise” in 2008 is called Gathering Forces.

Current

Brubeck is a Fulbright Senior Specialist in Jazz Studies. He taught at Yildiz Technical University in Istanbul in 2007 and spent the first term of 2010 at The Gheorghe Dima Music Academy in Cluj (Romania). Recent performances include appearances at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival in 2007 and 2008, the Kennedy Centre Honors Gala Concert in 2009. His current group, The Darius Brubeck Quartet was featured at UK Festivals and top London jazz clubs during 2009 and he also played a special concert at Ronnie Scott’s celebrating 50 years of “Time Out”, Dave Brubeck’s breakthrough album.

Future

Together again with South African musicians, Darius will be performing at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa and at the FIFA Main Stage at the Durban fan park during the World Cup. In November 2010, “Brubecks Play Brubeck”, featuring three Brubeck brothers (Darius, Chris, Dan) plus British saxophonist Dave O’Higgins, will tour 11 cities in the United Kingdom.

External links

• Darius Brubeck's website
• Kennedy, Gary W.: "Darius Brubeck", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (accessed 31 August 2007)