When you hear Bach or Mozart, you hear perfection. Remember that Bach, Mozart and Beethoven were great improvisers. I can hear that in their music.
Dave BrubeckRead
One of the reasons I believe in jazz is that the oneness of man can come through the rhythm of your heart. It’s the same anyplace in the world, that heartbeat. It’s the first thing you hear when you’re born — or before you’re born — and it’s the last thing you hear.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses the idea that music, specifically jazz, connects all humans through a shared heartbeat and rhythm.
Dave Brubeck highlights the universal nature of music, particularly jazz, as a means to express our shared humanity. He suggests that from the moment we are born, the rhythm of our heartbeat is a vital connection that transcends all boundaries, and music serves as a powerful reminder of this oneness among people everywhere.
Themes
JazzMusicHeartbeatHumanityConnection
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech at a music festival about the power of jazz to unite people.
More from Dave Brubeck
All quotes →I knew even if I'm a cowboy, I'm going to be involved in jazz in some way.
Dave BrubeckRead
What I want to happen is to be really creative, and to play something new in the improvisations, every time.
Dave BrubeckRead
Many people don't understand how disciplined you have to be to play jazz... And that is really the idea of democracy - freedom within the Constitution or discipline. You don't just get out there and do anything you want.
Dave BrubeckRead
I’m beginning to understand myself. But it would have been great to be able to understand myself when I was 20 rather than when I was 82.
Dave BrubeckRead
I got a poster from Columbia Records, and there's Miles Davis, Charlie Mingus, Ellington, Count Basie - everybody in that poster has died, I'm the only one left. And great players like Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan, it's hard to believe they're gone because we were all so close. But I believe in the future and the tradition will go on.
Dave BrubeckRead
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