Older readers will need no reminding of the legendary status enjoyed by the late Dave Brubeck, but given that it is now more than half a century since he was at his peak both as pianist and as leader of the Dave Brubeck quartet, there may well a whole younger generation of Jazz Journal readers to whom he is only a name, if that. In a nutshell, he formed the first Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1951. Successful from the start, it peaked 1958-1967, during which time they recorded the album Time Out. It was the first jazz album to sell one million copies and one of the tracks, Take Five, remains a top-selling jazz composition. Heavily influenced by classical composer Darius Milhaud, from whom he took lessons, Brubeck named his eldest son, Darius, in honour of him.
That son is now the subject of a documentary film, Playing The Changes, which received a one-off screening this month followed by a Q and A between Brubeck, film buff Mark Kermode and the director of the film, Michiel ten Kleij. The venue, one of the oldest cinemas in London, has a capacity of 196 and I noticed something like a half dozen empty seats; not bad for a Monday night. Before getting to the main event I’d like to touch on something that struck me immediately; Darius is the image of his father, but he sounds like another, for should you close your eyes whilst he is speaking, you would swear it was Liberace, and to cap it all, Mark Kermode bears more than a passing resemblance to Brubeck Snr.
The documentary runs approximately 60 minutes, the first 15 or so a fascinating account of Darius’s early life. He was born in San Francisco in 1947 at a time of political unrest, to say nothing of the “zoot suit” riots four years previously. This may well have been the basis of Darius’s interest and involvement in apartheid and jazz, which is explored in the bulk of the film. In 1983, with his South African-born wife Caroline, Darius moved to South Africa, joining the faculty of Natal university in Durban as a lecturer in jazz studies and initiating the very first degree course in the subject. In all, he formed five bands with personnel drawn from students plus staff. In 1989 he was appointed professor of jazz studies, and director of the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music. The first of the five bands he founded, the Jazzanians, was the first multi-racial band in South Africa. I’m the least political animal you could ever meet yet I found this absorbing, perhaps because I recall the problems leaders like Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman experienced with mixed-race bands, but that was 40 years before Darius encountered the same problems.
The Q and A following the screening dealt almost exclusively with Brubeck’s time in South Africa, and at one point, Mark Kermode asked the director if he’d made a film about jazz, with politics thrown in, a political film with a jazz content, or a film about both jazz and politics. The answer was the third option. Darius is now settled in England, where he still gigs with the Darius Brubeck Quartet and in Take Five, with Dave O’Higgins subbing for Paul Desmond’s alto. I can recommend this film without reservation to jazz buffs everywhere.
Playing The Changes. Phoenix Cinema, 52 High Road, London N2 9PJ. 21 September 2026
