I met Dave [Brubeck] in 1944 when he was coming through San Francisco on his way overseas as a rifleman. We had a quick session, started playing the blues in B-flat, and the first chord played was G-major. Knowing absolutely nothing at the time about polytonality, I thought he was stark, raving mad. His appearance at the time supported this point of view admirably. Wild-haired, ferocious-looking, with a pile-driver approach to the piano, and the expression of a surly Sioux. It took much patient explaining and several more listenings before I began to understand what he was up to. Since then, he's been the greatest, as far as I'm concerned. When Dave is playing his best, it's a profoundly moving thing to experience, emotionally and intellectually. It's completely free, live improvisation in which you can find all the qualities about music I love--the vigor and force of simple jazz, the harmonic complexities of Bartok and Milhaud, the form (and much of the dignity) of Bach, and, at times, the lyrical romanticism of Rachmaninoff. You see, a lot of us in contemporary jazz look for these qualities you find in certain classical musicians-- but in an evolving jazz content. << less