While rifling through the jazz section at any major record store, you’re likely to come across an album whose title catches your eye — Jazz at Oberlin, by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. You might decide that it would be cool to own the album — hey, it was recorded right here in Finney Chapel. So you buy it, take it home and have a listen, and what do you know, it sounds pretty good. You might even notice that this year marks the 50th anniversary of that performance, and that Brubeck, at 82, is still performing and recording, and the jazz program at Oberlin is thriving. What you will not get from a quick glance and listen, however, is the significance of that recording in the history of jazz and its importance to Brubeck’s career — and how a few über-hip students made it happen.
In 1953, when most music schools across the country were dedicated exclusively to the study of classical music, Oberlin was no exception. Jazz was played covertly and had only an underground following at conservatories. While a successful jazz concert at Oberlin these days is a regular occurrence, such was not the case fifty years ago, when the concert halls here were filled with the sounds of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, leaving out the likes of Basie or Baker. “There definitely was no jazz department in the Conservatory, and no interest in having a jazz department at the time,” James Newman, OC ’55, recalled, who was instrumental in bringing the Dave Brubeck Quartet to Oberlin.
Despite the climate on campus, the aspirations of Newman and a few forward-looking students gave way to what would become an important historical event.
“I had met Brubeck in 1951 when I was a student at Stanford,” Newman said. “I would go to the Black Hawk in San Francisco, where he often played, sometimes with a trio, and on Sundays with an octet featuring Paul Desmond. We were trying to arrange some sort of performance at Stanford, which never materialized. After I transferred to Oberlin, the idea of bringing him here came up. I made an arrangement with his booking agent, and by that time he had formed his quartet and was doing some touring. We agreed on a fee, and I was able to arrange for Finney Chapel. An ad hoc group of people borrowed some money to pay the group in advance, and we got one of the piano teachers in the Conservatory to serve as a faculty sponsor. We took some trips to Cleveland to promote the concert, and we put posters around town.”
By all accounts, the concert was a hit.
“It was a very exciting event, and as you can tell from the recording, the response was extraordinary,” Newman said.
The cheers from the crowd are well documented on the album. On all tracks — “These Foolish Things,” “Perdido,” “Stardust,” “The Way You Look Tonight” and “How High the Moon” — the group swings effortlessly. Paul Desmond’s airy alto sound floats over the rhythm section and Brubeck remains firmly locked in with bassist Ron Crotty and drummer Lloyd Davis. Jazz critic Gary Giddins has written that the album would “make many short lists of the decade’s outstanding albums.”
Engineers from WOBC, the College’s radio station, recorded the concert and Brubeck’s label, Fantasy, later obtained the tapes and produced the album, which is considered by many to have been a catalyst for an extraordinarily successful and lasting career.
Professor of African American Music and Chair of Oberlin’s Jazz Studies Department Wendell Logan calls Brubeck’s Oberlin concert “the watershed event that signaled the change of performance space for jazz from the nightclub to the concert hall.
“Nationally known jazz bands had come to Oberlin before, but mainly to play at dances. The trend of going to a jazz concert simply to listen was a novel idea and the Brubeck concert was a major factor in starting that trend,” he said.
Brubeck himself also considers the album an important event in his career. “I always considered Jazz at Oberlin a breakthrough album for the Quartet,” said Brubeck, “because it caught Desmond and me in the early days when we were beginning the concept of ‘jazz goes to college’ as a concert performance.”
As a result of the Finney concert’s success, Newman and several other students formed the Oberlin College Jazz Club. The club brought Brubeck back to campus the following year and it hosted concerts by such other jazz greats such as Count Basie, Chet Baker and Teddy Charles in a group that featured Charles Mingus on bass.
While the club has since dissolved, Oberlin’s Jazz Studies Department has assumed its role in providing the campus with student and professional jazz concerts throughout the year. The Brubeck Quartet will be back for a 50th anniversary performance on Oct. 4, 2003, in Finney Chapel.
Jazz at Oberlin was an extremely popular record for Brubeck’s quartet and a smashing success in the Oberlin community. The concert and album presented an audience largely uneducated in jazz with some of the genres finest players, all performing at the top of their game. And, as has become a tradition at Oberlin, it all started with the efforts of a few determined students. So next time you find yourself looking through the jazz record bin, pick up a piece of history, take it home, and consider yourself, as they say, in-the-know.