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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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Dave Brubeck
Age: 91 †
Born: 1920
Born: December 6
Died: 2012
Died: December 5
Bandleader
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Jazz Musician
Jazz Pianist
Music Arranger
Musician
Pianist
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California
David Warren Dave Brubeck
David Warren Brubeck
David Brubeck
David W. Brubeck
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Kinship doesn't come from skin color. It's in your soul and your mind.
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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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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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We don't know the power that's within our own bodies
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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.
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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'm always hoping for the nights that are inspired where you almost have an out of body experience
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Don't be a perfectionist... leave that to the classical musicians.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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There are a lot of people on the lowest rung of Jacob's Ladder, and we must somehow reach down, give them a hand, and make them want to climb. A little really good music never hurt anyone. And when people are given good music they can grow spiritually and even discover they like it.
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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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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.
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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.
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It's like a whole orchestra, the piano for me. And also it's to me the greatest instrument. I shouldn't say that, but I believe that this is the only instrument I can really feel happy about playing.
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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.
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Every individual should be expressing themselves, whether a politician or a minister or a policeman.
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