Keeping It In The Family

Brubecks headline Jazz Eureka

The Brubeck Brothers Quartet will headline Jazz Eureka 2016, with a special performance where they’ll be joined by the 12 piece Fayetteville Jazz Collective horn ensemble. “There can be someone who is just a ‘local musician’ but have the skills of someone who should be an international jazz star,” Brubeck says. “I expect we’re going to meet some great musicians from Fayetteville.”
The Brubeck Brothers Quartet will headline Jazz Eureka 2016, with a special performance where they’ll be joined by the 12 piece Fayetteville Jazz Collective horn ensemble. “There can be someone who is just a ‘local musician’ but have the skills of someone who should be an international jazz star,” Brubeck says. “I expect we’re going to meet some great musicians from Fayetteville.”

Chris Brubeck never set out to become a jazz musician. He was going to play music, sure, but with his touring rock 'n' roll group. As one of five sons of famous jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck, Chris Brubeck grew up in a house full of music with "honorary uncles" like Paul Desmond, Eugene Wright and Joe Morello around. But it wasn't until he started joining his father's group, the Dave Brubeck Quartet, on tour with his rock group that he began to consider jazz for himself.

"We would show up and play all of us together. People went nuts when it was literally only the family band," Brubeck says. He recalls how the groups would play colleges, and the parents were excited to see his father perform, while the students wanted to hear the rock 'n' roll.

Schedule of Events

Today

7 p.m. — The Rodney Block Collective, Basin Spring Park

Saturday

Basin Spring Park:

noon — Matt & Gus Jazz Duo

1:30 p.m. — Claudia Burson Trio

3 p.m. — Calle Soul Band

4:30 p.m. — Justin Young

The Auditorium:

8 p.m. — The Brubeck Brothers

Sunday

10 a.m.-1 p.m. — Jazz brunch with music and dancing, Crescent Hotel

FAQ

Jazz Eureka

WHEN — Through Sunday

WHERE — Basin Spring Park & The Auditorium in Eureka Springs

COST — Outdoor performances free; Brubeck Brothers Quartet $30

INFO — jazzeureka.org

Whether it was his musical upbringing or the fretless bass he was playing in his rock band, the transition to jazz was easy for Brubeck when he joined his father's quartet for a few years in the mid '70s. Now playing bass and trombone in his own jazz group -- The Brubeck Brothers Quartet -- Brubeck appreciates the complexity of the genre.

"Generally -- and this is coming from someone who loves rock 'n' roll and R&B, it's not like I'm a jazz snob -- I would say most jazz is intellectually more demanding than most rock 'n' roll," he says. "There are exceptions -- like what do you call Frank Zappa? But when you start hanging out with jazz guys, they're more cerebral than most rock 'n' roll guys."

The best jazz musicians have skill at improvisation -- which may contribute to the challenges and demands of the music. It is also that freshness, though, that has sustained the genre's popularity among listeners. Brubeck fondly remembers some women coming up to him at a concert and commenting they "love listening to live jazz because you know you're listening to something that's never been heard before and will never be heard again."

"The great thing about jazz is each soloist puts his own spin on it so it becomes a fresh piece every night," he says. "Jazz is such a broad term. It can be Dixieland, which is really different from smooth jazz. There are all different kinds, but one thing I will say about our group: there's sort of an accessible energy. It definitely doesn't sound like old people tottering around on a cruise ship."

Brubeck says The Brubeck Brothers Quartet definitely isn't Dixieland and it definitely isn't smooth jazz. If he has to label it, he's likely to lean toward a fresh and energetic straight-ahead jazz -- with some influences from his father's old band. Fans of the Dave Brubeck Quartet will certainly recognize some of Dave's work in Brubeck's incarnation of the group, but Brubeck says all of the group's musicians are talented writers in their own right. And no matter how big or small the stage, Brubeck says it is important to him to continue playing and supporting this music.

"My dad felt very strongly, and I do too, that Americans should not lost track of the fact that jazz is America's music," Brubeck says. "When you travel the world, you realize there are a lot of countries that see it as American music and value it more than probably Americans do because it's such an important art form. It's the great melting pot music."

NAN What's Up on 09/09/2016

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