Dave Brubeck Celebration of Life & Music Saturday, May 11 in New York City

BOSTON - April 23, 2013 - PRLog -- Dave Brubeck
December 6, 1920 - December 5, 2012

New York, NY--"A Celebration of the Life and Music of Dave Brubeck" will be held on Saturday, May 11, 2013 at 4:00 P.M. at The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Avenue in New York City.  There are no tickets to this event; the event is free and all are welcome.  

Artists scheduled to perform include Chick Corea, Paquito D'Rivera, Branford Marsalis, Randy Brecker, Jon Faddis, Roy Hargrove, Roberta Gambarini, Bill Charlap, Renee Rosnes, Rufus Reid, Bobby Militello, Hilary Kole and Darius, Chris, Matthew and Dan Brubeck.  Other performers and speakers will be announced as soon as information becomes available.

Information on The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine can be found at www.stjohndivine.org or by calling 212-316-7540.  Public inquiries regarding the Dave Brubeck celebration can be directed to contactus@absolutelylive.net and will be answered when further details become available.

Jazz legend Dave Brubeck passed away on December 5, 2012 at age 91, the day before his 92nd birthday.  A private funeral was held in Wilton, Connecticut in December, 2012.

Dave Brubeck Bio information:

Legend.  American icon.  Jazz titan.  These are just a handful of the accolades offered to jazz composer and pianist Dave Brubeck.  

Dave Brubeck recorded over 100 albums from 1942 to 2011 and broke musical ground for composing commercially successful music in odd time signatures.  He was also lauded for his many ballets, orchestral, oratorio and choral works.  As one of the best known and most highly-regarded American ambassadors of jazz throughout the globe, he made the cover of Time Magazine in 1954.  

The Dave Brubeck Quartet's best remembered piece is "Take Five," which is in 5/4 time and has endured as a jazz classic on the Double Platinum-selling jazz album, Time Out.

Dave Brubeck has been honored extensively, acquiring The National Medal of Arts from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1994; he also became an National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in 1999.  

Dave also received the DownBeat Hall of Fame Award in 1994, The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996, a Doctorate of Sacred Theology, Doctorate honoris causa from the University of Fribourg, in Switzerland in 2004, The Laetare Medal from the University of Notre Dame in 2006, The BBC Jazz Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007 and The U.S. State Department's Benjamin Franklin Award for Public Diplomacy for offering an American "vision of hope, opportunity and freedom" through his music in 2008.  

As well in 2008, he was inducted by Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger and California First Lady Maria Shriver into the California Hall of Fame; that year he also received an Honorary Doctorate from the Eastman School of Music.  

In September 2009, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced Brubeck as a Kennedy Center Honoree for exhibiting excellence in performance arts.  The Kennedy Center Honors Gala took place on Sunday, December 6, Brubeck's 89th birthday.  Earlier that day at the White House, President Barack Obama recalled that in 1971 he attended his very first jazz concert, which was a concert given by Brubeck, and said:  "In order to understand America, you have to understand jazz, and in order to understand jazz you have to understand Dave Brubeck."

Brubeck also was granted an honorary Doctor of Music Degree from Berklee College of Music, a George Washington University Honorary Doctorate and The Miles Davis Award from the Montreal Jazz Festival.  Dave Brubeck appeared regularly at the world famous Newport Jazz Festival and had more appearances at Newport than any other artist over the years.

In 2010, Bruce Ricker and Clint Eastwood produced Dave Brubeck: In His Own Sweet Way, a documentary about Brubeck for Turner Classic Movies (TCM) to commemorate his 90th birthday in December 2010.

The main-belt asteroid "5079 Brubeck" is named after him!

In 2000, the University of the Pacific honored their most famous graduate by establishing The Brubeck Institute.  What began as a special archive, consisting of the personal document collection of the Brubecks, has since expanded to provide fellowships and educational opportunities in jazz for students, also leading to having one of the main streets on which the school resides named in his honor, Dave Brubeck Way.

Press releases and high resolution photos can be found here:
http://www.sueauclairpromotions.com/Sue_Auclair_Promotions/A_Celebration_of_the_Life_and_Music_of_Dave_Brubeck.html