The Darius Brubeck Quartet (Darius Brubeck – piano, Dave O’Higgins – sax, Matt Ridley – bass, Wesley Gibbens – drums) will play at Jazz Café POSK, Saturday 11 May 2024, their first appearance at the Hammersmith venue. Preview/ interview Tomasz Furmanek (*)

UK Jazz News: We are excited about the Darius Brubeck Quartet’s visit @ Jazz Café POSK! What will you be playing?

Darius Brubeck: The Quartet will play a mix of Dave Brubeck hits, original music, South African jazz and jazz standards. The Polish connection makes it special, as the group had a very successful tour of Poland commemorating my father’s groundbreaking tour there in 1958.

UKJN: The Jazzanians historic album “We Have Waited Too Long” was recorded in 1988 and recently re-released on Ubuntu Music. What is the story of this album, and will you be including include some of the music in your program at POSK?

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DB: The Jazzanians were the first multi racial student group to tour outside South Africa during the apartheid era. They were invited to perform at the National Association of Jazz Educators, and they played original music composed by band members. Me (then teaching at the University of Natal in Durban, South Africa) and Cathy Brubeck put the band together and later produced the recently re-released CD and vinyl, “We Have Waited Too Long” (+). Yes, we will include some music from this album during the concert at POSK.

UKJN: Your first Ubuntu release was “The Darius Brubeck Quartet: Live in Poland” in 2019. What’s the story?

DB: The concerts were in such good venues with good sound, especially the last one at the Blue Note jazz club in Poznań, so it seemed right to capture this performance.

UKJN: What are your memories from Poland like? What was your impression of the country in which your father’s group, the Dave Brubeck Quartet, played in 1958 for a two-week tour (sponsored by the U.S. State Department) as the first top American group performing behind the “iron curtain”?

DB: So many, and some of these are alluded to in our book “Playing the Changes: Jazz at an African University and on the Road”, as well as the documentary “Playing the Changes” which is currently on the film festival circuit.

We were impressed by how enthusiastic the audiences were about jazz. There were people who had come to Dave’s concerts in 1958. Szczecin was very special because we visited the Solidarity Museum which celebrates the liberation of Poland and there in the first display case was a shortwave radio and a 1958 Dave Brubeck program.

There are many good Polish jazz musicians and one of them, the sax player and band leader, Sylwester Ostrowski, organized our 6-city tour.

UKJN: One of the tunes on the “Live in Poland” album has a Polish title “Dziękuję” (meaning “thank you” in Polish) – what’s the story behind this song?  

DB: This was written by Dave Brubeck as a thank you to the Polish people for giving him such a wonderful welcome!

UKJN: How much of your father’s music will be included in the program of your Jazz Café POSK concert? Also, please, could you invite our readers to gig in your own words?

DB: At least three or four of his compositions. Everyone expects “Take Five” and we like to play it. (See live video from Jazz Cafe in 2019)

This is the first time we are playing at Jazz Café POSK so do come along and help make this gig a lovely musical experience. The audience matters to us and we like sharing our music…

(*) Tomasz Furmanek is Artistic Manager at Jazz Café POSK)
(+) ” “Playing the Changes: Jazz at an African University and on the Road” will be published internationally on 9 July 2024 and is already available in South Africa.

LINKS: www.dariusbrubeck.com
Bookings for 11 May
75th Birthday Greetings for Darius from 2022