The Brubeck Collection

10/21/2026

Happy birthday to tenor saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi!🎷

Jerry Bergonzi performed with Dave Brubeck throughout the 1970s and early 1980s starting with Two Generations of Brubeck, a group featuring Dave and his sons, Chris, Darius, and Dan. Later, Bergonzi joined the Dave Brubeck Quartet and recorded several Concord albums including "Back Home" (1979), "Tritonis" (1980), and "Paper Moon" (1981).

Following his time with the Quartet, Bergonzi moved back to his native Boston and established a career as an internationally recognized jazz artist, composer, author, educator, and professor at the New England Conservatory since 1995.

🎥 The Dave Brubeck Quartet - "Tritonis" (Salt Lake City, 1980)

Dave Brubeck - Piano
Jerry Bergonzi - Tenor Sax
Chris Brubeck - Electric Bass
Randy Jones - Drums

10/14/2026

Today is Day!

Q: What's an interesting item you've discovered recently?

A: Recently, our team serendipitously "discovered" one of Dave's childhood music notebooks with written dates ranging from 1929-1930, making it one of the earliest examples of manuscript music written by Dave Brubeck in our collection. Dave would've been between 8-10 years old during this time most likely using this notebook during piano lessons with his mother, Elizabeth.

We "discovered" it while working towards making early Brubeck family history materials more discoverable. These materials were already processed at the "folder level," meaning this music notebook was previously only findable by physically looking in the right box in a specific folder entitled "DB Childhood."

Now, after describing, partially digitizing, and cataloging this notebook at "item level" — giving it its own unique record in our archive — fans and researchers alike can directly find this nearly 100-year-old significant piece of music history online on our Digital Archive!

📄Dave Brubeck's Sherman, Clay & Co.'s First Music Writing Book, c. 1929-1930 (1.1H.01.004c)

10/05/2026

Did you know that our Digital Archive has more than 2,000 digitized items and continues to grow through ongoing digitization?

This October, celebrate American Archives Month with us by checking out some rare photos, papers, audio, video clips and more available through the Brubeck Collection's Digital Archive: https://www.brubeckcollection.org/

📸 1. Wall with posters of Dave Brubeck and Miles Davis promoting Paris Jazz Festival, c. September-October 1964 (Paris, France) (DBP.64.123)
2. Dave Brubeck and Miles Davis Columbia albums exhibit promoting Paris Jazz Festival, c. September-October 1964 (Paris, France) (DBP.64.122)

10/01/2026

October is American Archives Month!

We're kicking off the month by premiering SiriusXM Real Jazz host Mark Ruffin's August 2026 oral history interview with Chris Brubeck available to view in full on the Brubeck Collection Digital Archive: https://www.brubeckcollection.org/Detail/objects/24513

Mark visited the archive as the host of Wilton Library Association's inaugural Wilton Jazz Fest held from August 28 - 29, 2026, where he told festival attendees:

"Please enjoy the Brubeck Collection. It's one of the best collections of jazz in the world, and the Brubeck family — they're part of Wilton."

📽 Mark Ruffin oral history interview with Chris Brubeck, August 28, 2026 (Brubeck Collection archive room, Wilton Library, Wilton, CT) (1.5I.01.004)

09/21/2026

Happy Anniversary, Dave & Iola!💍

Dave Brubeck and Iola Whitlock were married on September 21, 1942 in the rectory of the Carson City Methodist Church in Nevada while Dave was on a short leave from the Army. The minister’s wife was their witness.

For their honeymoon, they spent one night in a rustic motel on the shore of Lake Tahoe. Dave pledged to his new bride: “I don’t know what life with me is going to be like. I can only promise you one thing — it won’t be boring.”

📄 Iola Brubeck newspaper article on wedding with incorrect date(?), 10/2/42 (Stockton Record, California) (DBP.42.007)

09/20/2026

On this day in 1992, the Dave Brubeck Quartet performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival alongside dozens of jazz legends including Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, and Gerry Mulligan to name only a few.

Dave Brubeck played an important role in the Monterey Jazz Festival's history alongside founder/Bay Area disc jockey, Jimmy Lyons, and San Francisco Chronicle jazz writer, Ralph J. Gleason:

"As Dave Brubeck’s music became internationally recognized throughout the 1950s, Jimmy Lyons would eventually ask Dave’s assistance in 1958 to persuade the Monterey’s city council to allow a jazz festival take place at the County Fairgrounds. They would remain friends for the remainder of Jimmy’s life. Brubeck is considered the 'Godfather' of the Monterey Jazz Festival."

[Monterey Jazz Festival News, "How it all started! Jimmy Lyons on the air and Dave Brubeck’s influence and success (1940s – 1953)", 2/10/25]

Dave went on to play at the festival 15 times throughout his life. A few of his significant milestones there include the premiere of Dave and Iola's "The Real Ambassadors" featuring Louis Armstrong in 1962, the 25th anniversary festival in 1982, the commission of Dave's “Cannery Row Suite" in 2006, the 50th anniversary celebration in 2007, and a 50th anniversary celebration of “Time Out" in 2009, his final appearance at Monterey. A compilation of Dave's notable live recordings can be heard on "50 Years Of Dave Brubeck: Live At The Monterey Jazz Festival 1958-2007" (Monterey Jazz Festival Records, 2008)

📸 Dave Brubeck, Wynton Marsalis, Bradford Marsalis, and Gerry Mulligan in Monterey Jazz Festival advertisement, 1992 (DBP.92.024)

09/15/2026

09/11/2026

Check out this recent donation of a digital copy of a Dave Brubeck Quartet concert program autographed by Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Bob Bates, and Joe Dodge!

Through a contract in our collection, we determined this concert took place at Sacramento High School on May 10, 1954. After the show, the donor's father met the Quartet backstage and got all the members to sign his program!

📄 Barnett Schorr and Miriam-Jefferies Presents Chamber Jazz in Concert: "Jazz at Sacramento," May 10, 1954 (California) (1.1F.01.005n)