Last night, the American music industry held its annual Grammy Awards/concert at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Over the course of the 3.5 hour event, pop/rock stars accepted their awards, and performed in front of their peers and an audience of millions.
Besides the crowd of pop/rock royalty, were also some jazz players in attendance. No, these guys didn’t crash the party. They were actually invited. Imagine that. 😉
These 3 players are among the most famous jazz musicians in the world—rock stars of the jazz world if you will. They were there because they were asked to perform a tribute to jazz legend Dave Brubeck, who died December 5, 2012, at the age of 91.
Pianist Chick Corea, bassist Stanley Clarke, and saxophonist Kenny Garrett played a compilation of Take 5 and Blue Rondo a la Turk. (It should be noted that Corea and Garrett were both nominated multiple times in the 5 categories of jazz music, but only Corea won.)
Photo: Keith Major Source: kennygarrett.com
If you watched the Grammy Awards, and happened to miss the tribute to Dave Brubeck, that is quite understandable, since it was less than 1 minute long. That’s right, combine 2 of the most influential jazz songs of the 20th century together, stir, and in under 60 seconds you have paid homage to one of the most influential and respected jazz musicians and composers of all time.
Lots of luck trying to find a copy of the jazz tribute online. It isn’t there. How sad is that? But you will find video clips of almost every other performance from last night’s gala pop/rock event.
