Chris Brubeck reports from Moscow about the Brubeck Brothers Quartet’s Russian tour. He last played there a quarter of a century ago as a member of his father Dave’s quartet, when the country was the Soviet Union. Chris writes on his blog that at the BBQ’s first concert of the current trip, the US Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, introduced the band…
…in fluent Russian, right before our 2nd set. What he said in
essence was that although he was the official Ambassador from the United States, hearing excellent jazz music with a very international audience was the best way to share our American culture and build bridges between countries. He said that we were the real Ambassadors. He probably had no idea, but this is the name of the recording and musical my parents wrote with Louis Armstrong as the star….The Real Ambassadors. I felt like some kind of giant clock had come full cycle as Michael McFaul (pictured on the right with Chris) arrived at the same conclusion as my parent’s musical, which was famously performed only once at The Monterey Jazz Festival back in the early 60’s. Back then it was considered controversial ….. but not today.
Chris, his drummer brother Danny, guitarist Mike DeMicco and pianist Chuck Lamb have four more days of concerts in Moscow, Samara, Efremov and St. Petersburg. To read about their adventures in Russia and their impressions of the country and people, follow Chris’s blog.
Here are the title song and two others from Dave and Iola Brubeck’s The Real Ambassadors, featuring Louis Armstrong, Carmen McRae and Lambert, Hendricks and Ross.