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Anyhow enough technical stuff most of you aren't interested iin gauges are you? I can talk about 'em for hours though. Heh...
Me too my friend! I use .012's on all of my acoustics, and like I said, .011's on my Strat. I used to run .010's for a long time, but I do a lot of bending (being a blues guy), and I was going through B's and high E's like nobody's business. Plus I noticed a huge difference in tone when I went up to .011's, but enough about that. Maybe we should start a guitar technical talk thread?
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He's more into classical music with his current compositions, isn't he? I know he will be 83 in December and I have his Quartet's Take Five worming in my ear.
Well he has a brand new album that just came out yesterday on Telarc records called
Classical Brubeck which he recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Voices, baritone Alan Opie and the Dave Brubeck Quartet for an incredible 2-CD collection based on sacred text. However for the most part, the vast majority of what he plays is still straight ahead jazz.
The last two albums he released
The Crossing (2001), and
So What’s New (1998) are both dominantly jazz records, I own both, and they're outstanding! I’ve had the awesome privilege of seeing him twice now (in 2001, and last night), and both gigs have been 95% jazz. The first time I saw him they did like two or three classical pieces, and sax man, flutist Bobby Militello (one of the best musicians I’ve ever seen) did a solo number on flute that was some far east Japanese type thing, but everything else was straight ahead jazz (and one of the best shows I’ve ever seen in my life).
Unbelievably, I think last nights show was even better! The first time I saw them I thought Militello really stole the show, and Dave was kind of laying back letting the other guys really shine (all the guys in the current line-up are all-star top notch players). Not that Dave wasn’t awesome himself the first time by any means, but last night he was really on fire! Dave was in the zone last night, and he was definitely the highlight! It’s so inspirational to watch this 82-year-old master legend of Jazz play like not a moment has passed in the last 50 years.
Dave is still so technically on top of his game, and his playing, and composing is as fresh and vital as ever. They did one number off of the new classical release I mentioned (
Pange Lingua Variations, they played one of the six variations on the record), and they played a tune that they do when he does his annual mass concert, but the rest of the evening was pure jazz all the way (they played for a little over two hours). One of the highlights was definitely when they played a new composition Dave wrote while in London which God willing will be on his next album called
London sharp, London flat. Just to prove my point on how technically brilliant he still is, in parts of that particular piece Dave plays a descending run with his left hand that’s all flats, and an ascending run with the right that’s all sharps simultaneously! Absolutely mind blowing!!!!
They closed the show last night with an incredible version of
Take Five (the only thing from
Time Out they played), but outside of that one tune, the rest of the show was completely different than the last time I saw them. I guess you can do that when your repertoire is over 400 songs strong! Amazingly Dave still does around 200 gigs per year. Not bad for an 82 year old guy (lol)! Plus Dave is soooo funny when he talks to the crowd, he really draws the audience in, and makes you feel like you’re watching the quartet in his living room. I had second row seats last night, on Dave’s side of the stage, and I was like 10 feet away from him the entire time. I started tearing up when he first came out, and I couldn’t believe that I was standing 10 feet away from one of the most important figures in the history of jazz. Last nights show was easily one of the top three shows I’ve ever seen in my entire life! I will forever cherish the memories, and I sincerely hope with all of my heart that I get another chance to see him again! Well enough of my babbling, back to Bird!
He's 
