Message from Chris Brubeck

Images courtesy of Brubeck Living Legacy

My family and I, the administration and faculty, and supporters of the Brubeck Jazz Summit are very sorry to be postponing our inaugural summer program. There has been a ton of work going on behind the scenes, and just as you students have been practicing to be at your best when you came to the Brubeck Jazz Summit, we were all preparing to be our best for you. Lake Tahoe and Incline Village are incredibly beautiful and we had hoped and planned for all of you to have a fun and exciting experience in this stunning environment, all while being coached by some of the top professionals in the jazz world.

My father, Dave Brubeck, had one of his first professional gigs in Tahoe when he was about your age in the summer of 1941. He loved being near that beautiful blue lake and wrote music inspired by his time there. That was a magical summer for him. Very little money, sleeping in the attic of a dance hall that jutted out on a pier over the lake. But he was playing the music he loved with young musicians who had a matched passion for Jazz and a commitment to swing. Just four months later Pearl Harbor was attacked, and that generation was upended by America’s entry into World War II. It was a challenge that had to be met; and yet out of that tragedy and terrible war we were somehow able to build a better world.

Your generation has the formidable challenge of the Covid-19 virus pandemic. It is turning everyone’s world upside down. But I have faith that we will overcome this challenge, and your generation will build a world better than we’ve ever known. We will re-learn that to survive we need to embrace science, facts and use our wits and compassion to bring everyone together to get beyond this pandemic. We are isolated in many physical ways but in this era we are connected by our love of music and technology. You can spend the next year deepening your knowledge of Jazz by engaging your curiosity and discovering so many musicians who have walked this road before you. Twenty-five years from now, a new generation of young musicians will be standing on your shoulders.

We at Brubeck Jazz Summit look forward to meeting you, playing music together and learning from each other next summer at the Brubeck Jazz Summit.

Chris Brubeck, May 31, 2020