Dave Brubeck
piano
California pianist and bandleader famous for his 1950s quartet, whom Barry named in a class as one of many pianists who did not hold the left hand up high all the time.
- mentions
- 3
- recordings
- 3
- Barry speaking
- 1
What Barry says
In a class on small and big chords, Barry lists Dave Brubeck with Art Tatum, Bud Powell, Monk and Al Haig as pianists who did not play with the left hand up high all the time. Only Erroll Garner and Red Garland did, so he asks why it has become the rule.
Small chords, not big ones1:40Brian Jude de Lima, Reanimating Dissonance: Cultivating the Antecedents of Barry Harris’ Concept of Movement as a Multidimensional Pedagogical Tool for Ontario Post-Secondary Jazz Curricula ¶881
Barry’s point is that pianists should play small chords rather than big ones, and nobody should play one-note melodies in the right hand: the hands should blend, with chords in both. If so many masters did not keep the left hand up high, he says, students should not either.
In his own words
Bud Powell didn’t do it—Monk didn’t do it. Dave Brubeck didn’t do it—a lot of people didn’t do it.
If all of those people didn’t do it, then we aren’t supposed to do it.
Every mention
3 moments in the recordings, 1 of them Barry speaking. Each says who is talking.
Small chords, not big ones
- 1:40
Among pianists who did not keep the left hand up high all the time (the old captions had ‘Dave Breck’)
Artists House Master Class Barry Harris - Introduction by Gary Giddins
- 2:31
Someone else
Gary Giddins: stars like Brubeck toured with their own band; others hired local players such as Barry
ManagersPro.com “Barry Harris talks about as a mentor to developing pianists.”
- 2:31
Someone else
Same Gary Giddins introduction in another upload: Brubeck brought his own group on tour
In the interviews and notes
De Lima’s transcript of the small-chords class spells out the names: Tatum, Bud, Monk, Dave Brubeck and Al Haig did not keep the left hand up high, while Erroll Garner and Red Garland did.
The workbook to The Barry Harris Workshop Video lists an example based on Brubeck’s tune ‘In Your Own Sweet Way’, grouped after the section on ‘borrowed notes’ in its chapter on moveable chords for piano and guitar.
Barry Harris (on video); Howard Rees (producer, The Barry Harris Workshop Video ¶19
Method ideas nearby
Ideas of the method taught in the classes where they come up, with how many mentions fall in each.