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Jazz stands for freedom. It's supposed to be the voice of freedom: Get out there and improvise, and take chances, and don't be a perfectionist - leave that to the classical musicians.

Dave Brubeck

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Dave Brubeck
Age: 91 †
Born: 1920
Born: December 6
Died: 2012
Died: December 5
Bandleader
Composer
Jazz Musician
Jazz Pianist
Music Arranger
Musician
Pianist
Recording Artist
Songwriter
Concord
California
David Warren Dave Brubeck
David Warren Brubeck
David Brubeck
David W. Brubeck
Chances
Freedom
Musicians
Voice
Take
Stands
Jazz
Supposed
Improvise
Musician
Perfectionist
Leave
Classical
Chance

More quotes by Dave Brubeck

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The worst thing about the life of a jazz musician on the road is getting to the gig. Once you're there and playing, it's marvelous.
Dave Brubeck
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The reality for me is simple. When music is written, it is usually categorized as classical. When it is improvised, it can still be called classical if it is an inspired improvisation. In either category, it is still music, and it can be good or bad or simply mediocre.
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I had the first integrated Army band in World War II.
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I was always very aware of drummers. My oldest brother Henry was a drummer, and he drummed on everything in the house from the kitchen sink to stovepipes. He was the first drummer in the Gil Evans Orchestra, so you've got to know how great he was.
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Don't be a perfectionist... leave that to the classical musicians.
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I used to take my mother to Yosemite. When I turned 14, I got my driver's license, and that's where she'd want to go, so I'd go take her there for two weeks.
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My dad was the manager at the 45,000-acre ranch, but he owned his own 1,200-acre ranch, and I owned four cattle that he gave to me when I graduated from grammar school, from the eighth grade. And those cows multiplied, and he kept track of them for years for me. And that was my herd.
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Art may not have the power to change the course of history, but it can provide a perspective on historical events that needs to be heard, even if it's seldom heeded. After all the temporary influences that once directed the course of history have vanished, great art survives and continues to speak to each generation.
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We don't know the power that's within our own bodies
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Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, and many other great jazz musicians objected to their music being called jazz. While the outside world may want to put a label on it, those who create it think of it just as music, and tend not to classify it.
Dave Brubeck
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If I told you all the people that have secretly told me I've influenced them, you'd never believe it, and you'll never see it in print, either.
Dave Brubeck
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I'm always hoping for the nights that are inspired where you almost have an out of body experience
Dave Brubeck
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I’m beginning to understand myself. But it would have been great to be able to understand myself when I was 20 rather than when I was 82.
Dave Brubeck
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You could play probably a span of 50 years of me playing St. Louis Blues, and most of the time it will be different every time.
Dave Brubeck
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And there is a time where you can be beyond yourself. You can be better than your technique. You can be better than most of your usual ideas. And this is a whole other category that you can get into.
Dave Brubeck
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Every individual should be expressing themselves, whether a politician or a minister or a policeman.
Dave Brubeck
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The secret of a great melody is a secret.
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The first choral music I remember hearing was Handel's 'Messiah' when the Mormon Tabernacle Choir broadcast it over the radio.
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I wasn't allowed to play in some universities in the United States and out of twenty-five concerts, twenty-three were canceled unless I would substitute my black bass player for my old white bass player, which I wouldn't do.
Dave Brubeck
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One of the reasons I believe in jazz is that the oneness of man can come through the rhythm of your heart. It’s the same anyplace in the world, that heartbeat. It’s the first thing you hear when you’re born — or before you’re born — and it’s the last thing you hear.
Dave Brubeck