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“REMEMBERING DAVE BRUBECK” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the in the Senate section section on page S8586 on Dec. 31, 2012.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
REMEMBERING DAVE BRUBECK
Mrs BOXER. Mr. President, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Dave Brubeck, the iconic jazz musician and composer who defined and popularized modern jazz during a pioneering career that spanned seven decades. Mr. Brubeck passed away on December 5, a day before his 92nd birthday, in Wilton, CT.
Dave Brubeck was born in Concord, California, on December 6, 1920. When he was 11, Dave's family moved to the town of Ione in the rolling Sierra foothills of Amador County, where his father, Pete, managed a cattle ranch, and his mother, Elizabeth, a classically-trained pianist, taught Dave and his two brothers how to play various musical instruments. Although his poor eyesight kept him from reading music, this determined young musician learned mostly by listening, and his abundant musical talents made him a popular feature at local events by the time he was a teenager.
At the College of the Pacific, Dave initially studied veterinary medicine before switching to music after one year. It was there that he met Iola Whitlock, a schoolmate who became his wife in 1942. Almost immediately upon graduation, he was drafted into the Army, where his standout performance as part of a travelling Red Cross show prompted a commanding officer to assign him to form a band to play for the troops in combat areas. He recruited black and white musicians to play together in his 18-piece band, the Wolfpack Band.
After the war, Dave returned home to study music on a GI bill scholarship at Mills College under the tutelage of French composer Darius Milhaud. During this period, he met the musicians who would later form the Dave Brubeck Quartet. With Mr. Brubeck at the helm, the quartet's unique and groundbreaking style earned wide acclaim and a legion of fans from across the country, and eventually from around the world. In 1954, in recognition of his fame and prodigious talents, he was featured on the cover of Time Magazine. In 1959, the quartet's recording of ``Take Five'' became the first jazz single to sell a million copies. Over the years, he would produce other iconic jazz hits such as ``Time Out'' and ``It's a Raggy Waltz,'' record more than a hundred albums, and even write two ballets.
A man of strong convictions, Mr. Brubeck used his musical gifts and celebrity to stand up for principles and causes in which he believed. In 1958, at the invitation of the U.S. State Department, he led the quartet on a good will tour that introduced jazz music to countries and audiences behind the Iron Curtain and in the Middle East. That same year, he refused to tour in South Africa when promoters insisted that his band be all white.
Mr. Brubeck performed for eight presidents and composed the entrance music for Pope John Paul II's 1987 visit to Candlestick Park in San Francisco. He was named a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts and received a Kennedy Center Honor for his contribution to American culture. His alma mater, now known as the University of the Pacific, established the Brubeck Institute to further his lifelong work and goal to use the power of music to ``transform lives as well as to enlighten and entertain.''
On behalf of the people of his home state of California, I extend my deepest sympathies to Dave Brubeck's wife of 70 years, Iola; sons Darius, Chris, Dan and Matthew; daughter Catherine Yaghsizian; 10 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Dave Brubeck was an American treasure, and he will be dearly missed.
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