American - Musician | December 6, 1920 -
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
FreedomVoiceMusiciansJazzLeave
I had the first integrated Army band in World War II.
WarWorldArmyBandFirstWorld War
There's a way of playing safe, there's a way of using tricks and there's the way I like to play which is dangerously where you're going to take a chance on making mistakes in order to create something you haven't created before.
MistakesChanceYouCreatePlayWay
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.
TimeYourselfIdeasBetterYouGet
If there's a deadline, I work late. If not, I like to have normal hours, and get up early and work. When things are going well, I hate to quit. And then I'll work 'till exhausted.
WorkHateEarlyLateQuitNormal
After the Second World War, I returned to California to study composition with Darius Milhaud, who wrote wonderful works like 'Le Boeuf sur le Toit' and 'La Cretion du Monde.' I especially enjoy his work for two pianos, 'Scaramouche.'
WorkWarWorldEnjoyWorld War I
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.
GreatMyselfBeginningUnderstand
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.
SchoolMeManagerGrammarYearsOwn
I knew I wanted to write on religious themes when I was a GI in World War II. I saw and experienced so much violence that I thought I could express my outrage best with music.
MusicBestWarWorldThoughtWrite
That's the beauty of music. You can take a theme from a Bach sacred chorale and improvise. It doesn't make any difference where the theme comes from; the treatment of it can be jazz.
BeautyMusicYouJazzThemeTake
It's like a whole orchestra, the piano for me.
MeOrchestraPianoWholeLike
I started growing up in a hurry and taking a lot of the philosophy I'd heard from church as a kid a lot more seriously - especially the Ten Commandments - and wondering how 'Thou shalt not kill' could be so absolutely ignored. It took me until I was in my 40s to write what I was thinking as a young soldier.
MeGrowing UpThinkingChurchYoung
Copyright © 2024 QuotesDict Dave Brubeck quotes