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Dave Brubeck and João Carlos Martins
With
The Bachiana Filarmônica
Conducted by Maestro João Carlos Martins
(João Carlos Martins Website)
Dave Brubeck on Piano
(Dave Brubeck Website)
Chris Brubeck on Trombone
(Chris Brubeck Website)
Maestro Martins on Piano
At
Avery Fisher Hall
Lincoln Center
www.lincolncenter.org
Dr. Roberta E. Zlokower
October 2, 2009
Jazz Great, Dave Brubeck, now 88, and João Carlos Martins, with his Brazilian, Bachiana Filarmônica came to Avery Fisher Hall tonight for their long awaited concert collaboration. Two grand pianos were ready for Mr. Brubeck and Maestro Martins to perform together, a delayed dream, due to Maestro Martins’ hand injuries and surgeries. They had long hoped to play a Bach Double Piano Concerto, but decided on Mr. Brubeck’s “Dziekuje”, meaning “Thank You”. Brubeck had composed this work in Poland many decades ago. Mr. Brubeck played with a sense of honor and wonder, and the chemistry of these two artists, gazing at each other over their expansive keyboards, as each was uniquely featured, was profoundly poignant. These two musicians have been friends since the ‘70’s, and many Brazilians, fans of Maestro Martins and his Bachiana Filarmônica, as well as Mr. Brubeck’s jazz fans, were in tonight’s enthusiastic and attentive audience.
Also on tonight’s program was Mr. Brubeck’s Brandenburg Gate: Revisited, and joining Mr. Brubeck were the Bachiana Filarmônica , his son, Chris Brubeck, on bass trombone, Randy Jones on drums, and Michael Moore, on acoustic bass. (See a 2003 review of Dave Brubeck with his Quartet). Chris Brubeck and his father also exchanged proud glances, another visual embrace for this all-embracing classical-jazz-cultural event. Villa-Lobos’s Bachianas Brasileiras Nos. 4 and 7 had been presented earlier in tonight’s program, to honor Villa-Lobos’s memory. Chris Brubeck also performed his Concerto for Bass Trombone and Orchestra, and Maestro Martins kept the orchestra as jazzy as Mr. Brubeck’s soaring trombone. After the first set of applauses, we were gratefully treated to Blue Rondo à la Turk, one of my longtime Brubeck favorites. As a closer, Mr. Martins performed a solo piano version of Robert Schumann’s Träumerei (Dreaming), the 7th of 13 “Scenes from Childhood”, written in 1838. I’m already looking forward to seeing Mr. Brubeck and Chris Brubeck again in the jazz clubs and concert halls, hopefully soon. It would be wonderful to hear Maestro Martins’ Bachiana Filarmônica in the near future, as well. Kudos to Dave Brubeck and Maestro João Carlos Martins.
Dave Brubeck and João Carlos Martins
Courtesy of Fernando Natalici
Dave Brubeck and Chris Brubeck
Courtesy of Fernando Natalici
João Carlos Martins Conducting
The Bachiana Filarmônica
Courtesy of Fernando Natalici
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