Latest Dave Brubeck Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• 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.

  Dave Brubeck

  Art, Perspective, Historical

  Source: www.commonwealmagazine.org

• I don't think you can separate a person's "style" and his persona. If you're writing or improvising honestly, you will inevitably reflect who you are.

  Dave Brubeck

  Writing, Thinking, Style

  Source: www.commonwealmagazine.org

• 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.

  Dave Brubeck

  Hurt, People, Giving

  Source: www.commonwealmagazine.org

• I think the church should strive to give parishioners good music. Music is as necessary for worship as a building with a beautiful altar, artwork, and stained-glass windows. Together they create an environment conducive to worship and contemplation. We are not in church for entertainment, but to worship.

  Dave Brubeck

  Beautiful, Thinking, Giving

  Source: www.commonwealmagazine.org

• 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.

  Dave Brubeck

  Simple, Reality, Inspired

  Source: www.commonwealmagazine.org

• The use of rock, folk, or pop music serves a purpose. It gets people into the church. But an inexperienced guitar player who doesn't have much to say, for example, can make me wish to leave the church immediately, whereas one great jazz or classical guitarist can confirm that I will have a spiritual experience in the church.

  Dave Brubeck

  Spiritual, Player, People

  Source: www.commonwealmagazine.org

• 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

  Art, Thinking, Musician

  Source: www.commonwealmagazine.org

• Over the years I've had strong friendships with many priests. As a matter of fact, a group of Christian leaders from the National Council of Churches came to my house in the 1950s to ask me to write music for a Mass. I didn't think I was ready at that time. So, in a sense, I guess joining the church and writing the Mass was a culmination of a long journey that is still going on.

  Dave Brubeck

  Christian, Strong, Writing

  Source: www.commonwealmagazine.org

• The source of inspiration can be any of the things:deep emotional experiences - say, romantic love or spiritual contemplation.I think such rare moments come only when you have total concentration. You are consumed in and by the music. I guess you could say that it is akin to contemplation. In order to reach this desirable state of mind you have to rise above the environment you're in at that particular time - a bad piano, glaring stage lights, or the attitude of the audience. Sometimes the inspiration of the other musicians you're playing with helps you reach this stage.

  Dave Brubeck

  Spiritual, Attitude, Inspiration

  Source: www.commonwealmagazine.org

• So often people will say that I converted to the Catholic religion. This is false. Although I was raised as a Protestant, I was never baptized and had never been a member of any church. I joined the Roman Catholic Church after I had written my Mass To Hope!During the night I dreamt the entire Lord's Prayer with chorus and orchestra. I jumped out of bed and wrote down what I had heard as accurately as I could remember. Because of this event I decided that I might as well join the Catholic Church because someone somewhere was pulling me toward that end.

  Dave Brubeck

  Prayer, Night, People

  Source: www.commonwealmagazine.org