Jazz is all in family

By The Daily Progress Staff

Published: October 9, 2008

Get ready for the next generation of an American musical family. If you’re a fan of Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five,’’ you’ll want to take four — and hear a quartet continue the family tradition of top-notch jazz.

The Brubeck Brothers Quartet will be performing jazz at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Paramount Theater.

The group includes Daniel Brubeck on drums and Chris Brubeck on bass and trombone. Joining them will be guitarist Mike DeMicco and pianist Chuck Lamb.

Chris Brubeck is a composer, orchestral arranger, lyricist and performer who is at home on three instruments and comfortable playing jazz, rock, classical, funk and folk. Many woodwind quintets have performed his “Vignettes for Nonet.’’

His composition “Interplay for 3 Violins and Orchestra,’’ featuring classical violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, jazz violinist Regina Carter and Celtic fiddler Eileen Ivers of “Riverdance’’ fame was a popular “Evening at Pops’’ program on PBS.

Dan Brubeck has been busy on the international music circuit for decades, and he performed with the Dave Brubeck Quartet as well as his own group, the Dolphins.

He is known for his distinctive drum solos, which make use of unusual time signatures and rhythms. He received a Grammy nomination for his work on “Trio Brubeck’’ with Dave and Chris Brubeck.

DeMicco, a guitarist and composer, has been busy touring since 1980, spending part of that time in the Dolphins with Dan Brubeck. He also has performed with James and Livingston Taylor, Warren Bernhardt, Peter Erskine and Michael Franks.

Lamb, a pianist, composer and percussionist, is the co-founder of the jazz-fusion outfit Dry Jack. Fans of Bela Fleck may have heard Lamb perform with him.

The quartet has been staying busy performing at well-known festivals, concert series and colleges. In 2006, the quartet played the Salt Lake City Jazz Festival and got the crowd excited by teaming up with conductor Keith Lockhart and the Utah Symphony.

Tickets are $34.50, $29.50, $26.50 and $23.50. Get them at the box office, at http://www.theparamount.net or by phone at 979-1333.