Strange times: The sui generis Dave Brubeck

the-tls.co.uk

39 points·apollinaire··8 comments

Possibly one of the most moving interviews I’ve seen was Dave Brubeck talking about returning to America after WWII and witnessing racism towards black veterans.

https://youtu.be/stadqAHRroA

The story he tells at the very end brings me to tears. What a genuinely good human being, and a musical genius.

Dave Brubeck — specifically, “Take Five” — will be forever associated in my mind with “The Secret Life of Machines”

I’ll add a link once I have a chance to search. It’s a delightfully quirky TV program from the 1970s, and which I thought showcased some brilliantly fun, yet simple, mechanical engineering.

I think they used the Reggae version by Val Bennet called "The Russians are Coming"

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pzqoqzSZkPs

But yes, great show.

That's right. Good memory. I'd never realized it.

https://youtu.be/mDe-T5JayN8?t=1349

(At the end of this episode, he talks about the short life of vacuum cleaners as compared to vacuum cleaners of the past. Hah.)

https://www.secretlifeofmachines.com/the_music.shtml

Unsqare Dance will be forever associated with "Baby Driver".

“The Secret Life of Machines”

My god how I loved that show. Tim Hunkin is such a weird and wonderful person. And though the show sorta predates the modern internet, as soon as the tech was available/undertandable to him, he put the whole damn series online for download (initially on an FTP server) for free.

The episode where he and Garrod make a an audio recording with some rust filings and Scotch tape (sticky tape ;) was simply amazing.

Awesome read. Cool to learn about Charlie "Triumph of the Underdog" Mingus standing up for Brubeck's non-conformity when bop took over.

https://archive.is/bhuMV

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