THE BEAT

by Seth Rogovoy

While Dave Brubeck and his sons are perhaps most noted for their work as jazz musicians and composers, one overlooked aspect of their talent is specifically that as songwriters. A new CD, "Across Your Dreams" (Telarc), featuring opera star Frederica von Stade singing works by Dave and Chris Brubeck, goes a long way toward correcting that deficiency.

The recording began as a project in the Sandisfield living room of Chris Brubeck's duo partner, Bill Crofut, about two years ago, with von Stade, Crofut and Brubeck experimenting amongst themselves with sung versions of Dave Brubeck compositions like "Polly" and "Blue Rondo a la Turk," Dave and Iola Brubeck songs like "Strange Meadowlark" and "Summer Song" _ originally sung by Louis Armstrong in the Brubeck's musical about cultural exchange, "The Real Ambassadors" - and classic-style pop songs by Chris Brubeck.

Over the course of time the project expanded to include 13 tracks professionally recorded with other instrumentalists and vocalists. The end result is a stunning tribute to the talent of the Brubeck clan and particularly the power of Dave Brubeck's work to cross through artificially designated boundaries of genre.

Highlights include a reworking of "Blue Rondo," featuring a vocal tour de force by von Stade with help from Crofut and Brubeck, whose incredibly witty and economical lyrics retell the entire history of the landmark composition - and much of Dave Brubeck's career - while sticking to its complex 9//8 time signature and turn-on-a-dime changes, all from the imagined point of view of the venerable composer. Such lines as "Dave are you out of your mind, this is too hard to learn" and "Hip mixture seems to work, Turkish beat, classical form, all mixed up with the blues" will undoubtedly delight future generations of listeners in its explanation of the song's origins, its explication of the song's structure, and its celebration of its rhythmic glee.

Equally impressive is von Stade's rendition of the polytonal "Polly," with lyrics about a very precocious girl contributed by the whole crew. In addition to Crofut's banjo, the song features Crofut- Brubeck guitarist Joel Brown, and Brown's father, Frank, on clarinet, making it even more of a family affair. And where else can you hear the name "Elton John" sung by an international diva in a tune written by Dave Brubeck?

Other highlights include Chris Brubeck's inspirational, Carole King-meets-Jerome Kern ``Across Your Dreams'' - given a touching mother-daughter treatment by von Stade and her daughter, Jenny Elkus. Crofut contributes his own colorfully burnished vocals on a few tunes, including a duet with von Stade on "Summer Song" and a bouncy "It's a Raggy Waltz," featuring a cameo by von Stade in the guise of a stumbling Teutonic diva.

But the real revelation of the album lies with the multi-talented Chris Brubeck, whose lyric and compositional skills are felt on nearly every number, who co-produced the album with Crofut, and who acts as a kind of one-man band within the band, playing trombone, electric and acoustic bass and piano and singing, sometimes all on one number. Brubeck's songwriting, which owes as much to Kurt Weill and the Brill Building as it does to his father, has a sad, mournful quality, which von Stade renders without unnecessary sentimentality.

We read and hear a lot about "family values"' _ a phrase that is at once both empty of meaning and overloaded with political significance. In its celebration of the musical talent of a particular and extended clan - indeed, of the families of musicians that all had a hand in the creation of "Across Your Dreams" - and in Chris Brubeck's songs about the struggle to maintain a family in a world that is at times hostile to the very effort, this recording speaks louder about family values than any politician's speeches.

Spotlight 1 - Victor Wooten

Does an entire album featuring nothing but solo, electric bass guitar sound like a cure for insomnia to you? It did to me, until I heard Victor Wooten's "A Show of Hands" (Compass), the noted bassist's solo debut. As those who know Wooten from his work as a member of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, the four- string bass becomes an entirely different instrument - a melodic, orchestral tool with virtually unlimited musical potential - in this master's hands. "Show of Hands'' features 10 tracks ranging from funk originals to a gorgeous cover of Stevie Wonder's "Overjoyed" to a jazz medley of "Someday My Prince Will Come," "Misty" and "A Night In Tunisia" to a switched-on, Bach-style piece called "Classical Thump." Wooten stole the show from the headliner when the Flecktones played the National Music Center this past summer. At the Iron Horse in Northampton on Friday, Nov. 22 at 10, he'll have the spotlight all to himself.

Critic's picks

The Williams College Jazz Ensemble performs in a free concert on Friday, Nov. 22 at 8, in Chapin Hall on the Williams campus in Williamstown. The program, called "Walking Through Time," will feature big-band selections by the likes of Fletcher Henderson, Dizzy Gillespie and Thad Jones, as well as new works by student arrangers. There will be a pre-concert discussion at 7:15 in Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall, adjacent to Chapin Hall....

Mandolinist David Grisman, guitarist Martin Taylor, fiddler Vassar Clements and guitarist Reggie Harris will join forces in a program that explores vintage instruments and classic, acoustic jazz at the Troy (N.Y.) Savings Bank Music Hall on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 8....

Quirky alternative-folk band Ed's Redeeming Qualities recently released "At the Fish and Game Club" (Slow River), which they say will be their last album. It looks like Ed's long run is over, but they're going out with a bang. Catch them at the QE2 in Albany on Tuesday, Nov. 26....

Seth Rogovoy
rogovoy@berkshire.net
music news, interviews, reviews, et al.

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