Brubeck Festival serves up intercultural flair
Sixty years ago, the Dave Brubeck Quartet went on a tour of Europe and Asia, sponsored by the U.S. State Department.
The musicians served as “cultural ambassadors,” bringing jazz music to Poland, Turkey, India, Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon), East Pakistan and West Pakistan (now Bangladesh and Pakistan), Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq.
They were among a cadre of jazz musicians the State Department sent abroad during the Cold War, spreading American music and ideas all over the world.
In honor of the anniversary, this year’s Brubeck Festival is featung musicians who were carefully chosen to reflect the intercontinental and intercultural message of unity and peace that the Brubeck Quarter carried in 1958.
“Bringing musicians of this caliber to the University of the Pacific is a dream come true, both for students and for the wider community,” said Patrick Langham, interim executive director of the Brubeck Institute.
The Brubeck Festival, which kicked off Tuesday and will run through this weekend, is featuring top names in jazz: multi-lingual French jazz singer Cyrille Aimée and internationally renowned jazz band Spanish Harlem Orchestra.
The Pacific Jazz and Vocal Jazz Ensembles will perform next to Cyrille Aimée on Friday, while the Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet will play at DeRosa University Center on Saturday evening, during the concert by Spanish Harlem Orchestra.
Aimée, a French-Dominican vocalist and actress, has won the Montreux Jazz Festival’s vocal competition and the Sarah Vaughn International Jazz Vocal Competition. Spanish Harlem Orchestra has earned two Grammy awards for its energetic, New York-style salsa and Latin jazz.
Many talented regional jazz musicians will also participate that week during Take 5 Jazz At The Brew concerts.
An additional highlight of the festival is the performance by Mimi Fox, an internationally renowned guitarist, composer, and recording artist who joined Brubeck Institute as a resident artist in 2017.
“Cyrille, Spanish Harlem Orchestra, and Mimi are amazing performers, and their concerts will be a great opportunity for audiences here to see musicians who are known throughout the world,” Langham said.
Take Five Jazz at the Brew, the jazz club at Valley Brew on Adams Street in Stockton, will host nightly combo concerts with local favorites. Tonight’s featured band will be Brian Kendrick Little Big Band.
The Brubeck Festival is an annual celebration honoring jazz legend Dave Brubeck and lyricist Iola Brubeck, his wife. The Brubecks both studied music at College of the Pacific in Stockton — now University of the Pacific.
The Brubeck Institute, established at University of the Pacific in 2000, organizes the festival.
For more information about the festival, visit www.brubeckinstitute.org.