Son of Dave Brubeck, pianist/composer, started first university jazz course in South Africa, was there for over 20 years, 2 Fulbright awards, now based in London and playing full-time.
Early career
During the 1970s, Brubeck led his own groups, played with Don McLean,
Larry Coryell and toured the world with Two Generations of Brubeck and
The New Brubeck Quartet (Dave, Darius, Chris and Dan Brubeck) as an
additional pianist and keyboardist. Several albums were recorded along
the way. His focus changed to South Africa in 1983, when he initiated
the first degree course in Jazz Studies offered by an African
university. He taught at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN),
Durban, South Africa and was later appointed Director of the Centre
for Jazz and Popular Music, where he remained until 2005. After
retirement from full-time teaching he was made a Senior Research
Associate of the School of Music.
South Africa
For 15 years Darius Brubeck and Afro Cool Concept (a band with South
Africa’s premier alto saxophonist, Barney Rachabane performed all over
Southern Africa and beyond. The band’s last CD, “Still On My Mind” was
released in 2003 on Sheer Sound. Other recordings released by Sheer
include “Before It’s Too Late” (2004) and “Tugela Rail and Other
Tracks” (2007).
International tours included a series of concerts celebrating 10 years
of democracy in South Africa. In 2004, together with his brothers
(Chris and Dan), Darius headlined at the National Arts “Joy of Jazz
Festival”, South Africa and directed the South African National Youth
Jazz Band at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland.
Beginning in 1988 with “The Jazzanians”, the first mixed-race student
band from a South African university, Brubeck formed and led several
bands officially representing his university and South Africa, giving
workshops and concerts in the USA, UK, Europe, Peru, Thailand and
Turkey. This includes five International Association of Jazz
Educators (IAJE) conferences in the USA.
Composer
Apart from writing for his own bands, Darius’ arrangements and a
composition for Dave Brubeck's 80th birthday can be heard on “Dave
Brubeck – Live with the LSO” (2000). In 2005, the Rockefeller
Foundation awarded Darius a residency as a composer at the Bellagio
Study and Conference Center in Italy. In 2004, the Lincoln Center
Jazz Orchestra commissioned a piece by Brubeck and Zim Ngqawana,
setting music to extracts from speeches by Nelson Mandela and Desmond
Tutu. These were read by Morgan Freeman at the New York premiere.
Gathering Forces
Darius’ very first album, “Chaplin’s Back” (1972) was re-issued in
2010 on his Gathering Forces label, which also released “For Lydia and
the Lion” (The Darius Brubeck Quartet) and “Earthrise” (Gathering
Forces). “Gathering Forces” was the name of Darius’ former fusion band
in the '70s and early '80s. A later version of ‘GF’ featured Deepak
Ram on bansuri and recorded “Gathering Forces 2”.
Current
Brubeck is a Fulbright Senior Specialist in Jazz Studies. He taught
jazz history and composition at Yildiz Technical University in
Istanbul in 2007 and again in 2010 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania at the
Gheorghe Dima Academy of Music. Performances in 2010 include a tour
of England billed as ‘Brubecks Play Brubeck’ with his brothers Chris
and Dan and saxophonist Dave O’Higgins and the FIFA World Cup in
Durban, South Africa with South African musicians. In 2009, he played
at the Kennedy Center Honors awards ceremony honouring his father,
Dave Brubeck. Other recent highlights have been performances at in
the Cape Town International Jazz Festival and the South African
National Arts Festival. His regular group, The Darius Brubeck Quartet
is based in London and plays frequently at clubs and festivals in the
UK.
