Dave Brubeck

Greatness as a composer or as a player? Two different things.

I rank him extremely high and a unique innovator as a composer, and one of many fine pianists as a player. He also had a knack for letting people around him shine.

Franky, there are so many good pianists I find it hard to single out the groundbreaking geniuses. I'm much into Masabumi Kikuchi at the moment.

Koto Song is to this date one of my all time favorite tunes ever written.

Just some random thoughts ...

Sabai,
This has been an interesting thread with many good comments. It`s pretty clear that we`re all passionate about jazz musib.
What I don`t understand Sabai is your response to Rok2id, you seem very determined to make him hold Brubeck to your level of esteem. Rok doeos`nt and that should be enough. Certainly you can disagree with him but why are you so intent on him accepting your view of Brubeck`s greatness?

What more can Rok say? He won`t change your opinion and you are`nt going to change his. Simply put Brubeck is great to some and less than great for others. Why is that hard to accept and understand?
Regards,

Sabai:

First, this is not an argument. It's a discussion. I made a promise not to argue anymore and I have kept it. I don't even think you and I have a disagreement. Let's start over.

The OP started a thread about Brubeck. I weighed in with a short story, as did a few others. So far so good. Then the OP refered to Brubeck as a JAZZ GIANT. I am not sure what that means to him or you, but to me, it means the guys / gals who sit around the table on the Mount Olympus of the Jazz Universe. Just a handful. And in my opinion, Brubeck will not be there. He will be with the other 99% of the Jazz world, good player, well respected. Made some CDs that were very popular. Brought pleasure to millions. Had fame and fortune. Had a very nice career.
GREAT is not the word at issue here. JAZZ GIANT is at issue. My Ford Fusion Sport, I think it's GREAT, but as GREAT cars go, it does not hold a candle to the Ford Model T. The model T was a GIANT.
So what you and I think is fun to talk about. The guys on MT Olympus are put there by forces way beyond us.

The 'sameness' thingy was something O-10 and I talked about some time ago. He is into 'world' music. I just wanted to pull his chain and used Ellington as support for my position.

Everything else I said as pertains to Jazz clubs and atmosphere being important to Jazz development, I stand by it. Sadly, a lot of those nurturing enviroments have disappeared. As with all things, social conditions play / played a major role in music, and those conditions have changed. That is reflected in the music today.
Cheers.

"Nice calm smooth jazz. Very good for background music during dinner conversation. It does not have annoying loud parts that disrupt conversation."

Review of an Oscar Peterson CD on Amazon. He gave it 5 stars. Shows how we can all say the same words, but our ideas and concepts are eons apart. He was complimenting Oscar!! I am sure he thinks of himself as a 'Jazz aficionado'.

Rok2id,
I was using the word argument in the sense of a point that is being made -- not in the sense of being argumentative. No offense intended.