Dave Brubeck Quartet

American jazz group

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June 25, 2026

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The Dave Brubeck Quartet was a popular American jazz group known for incorporating classical music elements into jazz. Led by pianist Dave Brubeck, the quartet emerged from the "West Coast jazz" movement. Brubeck, who studied composition with Darius Milhaud, was interested in polyrhythms and polytonality, exploring unconventional time signatures like 5/4 and 9/8.

The quartet achieved significant commercial success, particularly with the 1960 release of "Take Five," a composition by alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, which became the best-selling jazz single of all time. The group's music often featured Desmond's "cool" saxophone tone and drummer Joe Morello's inventive playing. The Dave Brubeck Quartet disbanded in 1967 but reunited several times. Brubeck continued to be a respected jazz icon, releasing acclaimed albums into the 1990s.1

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Dave Brubeck
…trio, which soon became a quartet with the addition of alto saxophonist Paul Desmond. Within several months they attained a measure of national fame, largely by word of mouth among West Coast critics who championed the group’s innovations. Also during this time, Brubeck became one of the first jazz musicians…
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…trio, which soon became a quartet with the addition of alto saxophonist Paul Desmond. Within several months they attained a measure of national fame, largely by word of mouth among West Coast critics who championed the group’s innovations. Also during this time, Brubeck became one of the first jazz musicians…
Read More

jazz
The mainstream enlarged: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, and others
Cecil Taylor, Bill Evans, and Dave Brubeck. Miles Davis and Coltrane exerted the greatest influence, Coltrane especially; he inadvertently bred thousands of clones who copied his sound and turned his every move into a cliché. Much more difficult to imitate and to absorb was the music of Dolphy, who, along…
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Cecil Taylor, Bill Evans, and Dave Brubeck. Miles Davis and Coltrane exerted the greatest influence, Coltrane especially; he inadvertently bred thousands of clones who copied his sound and turned his every move into a cliché. Much more difficult to imitate and to absorb was the music of Dolphy, who, along…
Read More