2025 - Darius Brubeck

Summer Concerts 2026

The Darius Brubeck Quartet — Photo credit: Yves Prieto from the Parisot Arts En Balade Festival

This is an advance notice of our upcoming concerts for summer 2026. More details will be added in due course.

May 17: Los Angeles, USA
June 4: Menuhin Hall, Cobham, Surrey
June 5: The Lighthouse, Poole
June 6: Rhosygilwen, Wales
July 10: St George’s Bristol
July 11: Buxton Jazz Festival

Praise from Jazzwise

Kevin Le Gendre praises a “barnstorming set” in his review for Jazzwise of the December performance at Union Chapel, London. Read the full article

The Darius Brubeck Quartet at Union Chapel, December 2025 — Photo credit: Nick Brown

Le Gendre writes:

With knowingly humorous intent Darius Brubeck asks a packed audience to make a request. Leading a British quartet the American pianist has just played several beloved pieces from Time Out, the landmark 1959 by his late father Dave Brubeck but the song has been teasingly omitted. As several members of the audience shout ‘Take Five’ the anthem status of the track is put into sharp focus for the simple reason that it has irresistibly endured over the decades, and Darius, a genial presence on stage who bears a striking resemblance to his father, knows full well he has a duty to give the people what they want. The thinking is justified because the rendition is excellent – double bassist Matt Ridley and drummer Wesley Gibbens have the familiar 5/4 beat well nailed while saxophonist Dave O’Higgins handles the sauntering melody well, the contrast of his tenor to Paul Desmond’s alto as enjoyable as it is perceptible.

Although the lighter sound of the smaller reed created magic in so much of Brubeck’s music the pianist also gelled effectively with Jerry Bergonzi’s tenor and Gerry Mulligan’s baritone, making the point that a heavier, bulkier frontline instrument could also be ‘cool.’ In any case the song is relevant to the release of Time Outtakes, a newly released cd of previously unheard versions of tracks from said album that provide a fascinating insight into Brubeck’s process. ‘Blue Rondo A La Turk’ and ‘Three To Get Ready’ are crowd pleasers from the repertoire, and hearing them on stage as opposed to on record, with a slightly looser feel underlines the inherent appeal of the music. As important as the metric ingenuity is, be it a sprightly 9/8 for the former or the odd-even back and forth of 3/4 and 4/4 for the latter, the compositions have melodies that are as joyous as they are sensitive. All the tricks with time are not a replacement to good tunes, but rather an enhancement of them.

Although Darius, as the second set makes clear, is fully committed to his father’s legacy, he is also a composer in his own right and his material took the spotlight in the first half of the concert. He has proved to be a consistent writer and bandleader in a career that stretches back to the 1970s and his originals such as the rousing, ecologically-minded ‘Earth Rise’ and the irreverent ‘Brexit Blues’ display an assured command of the core principles of jazz, as the tunes swing assuredly on tasteful chords that elicit focused improvisations from the leader, and Ridley who plays a lengthy, expansive introduction on the latter. The sense of playfulness is pushed further on the classical-R&B hybrid ‘Prelude And Funque’, which is toughened up by rollicking backbeats. But a highlight of the evening is the gorgeous, wistful cover of ‘Nomali’, a gem by Hugh Masekela, lion of South Africa. Brubeck did substantial jazz education work in the country, and his band Jazzanians released music on Ubuntu, the label founded by the late Martin Hummel, to whom the piece is dedicated. The year began with his funeral and now ends with an informal memorial.

Concert review in UK Jazz News

Sebastian Scotney reviews the Darius Brubeck Quartet’s concert at Union Chapel, in UK Jazz News on 17th December 2025.

The Darius Brubeck Quartet at Union Chapel London — Photo credit: Sebastian Scotney

The concert was a tribute to Dave Brubeck’s ‘Time Out’ and ‘time signature’ jazz as well as a celebration of the quartet’s 20 years together.

The author writes:

One very happy image stays in mind from Monday night’s completely packed Brubeck concert at Union Chapel, because it captures the mood of celebration so well: at the end of ‘Blue Rondo a la Turk’, I noticed bassist Matt Ridley smiling as he twirled his double bass on its own axis like a spinning top.

The members of the Darius Brubeck Quartet have reason indeed for celebration. The four were marking two decades in existence with the current line-up, although as Darius Brubeck himself noted, the actual anniversary will fall in early 2026 and the birthday junketing is merely getting off to an early start. The group recently played a set of dates in Palermo, and that showed: the ease of communication and flow of a quartet thoroughly played in helped create a concert which didn’t just draw the audience in straight away, it also elicited a response which continued to grow warmer as the evening developed.

There were many highlights in Mondays concert: a gloriously spacious solo piano introduction to “Strange Meadowlark”, some wonderful intensity builds in Dave O’Higgins’s soloing, especially on “Blue Rondo a la Turk”, and Matt Ridley’s strongly characterful solo bass introduction to “Brexit Blues”.

There is an inevitable dramaturgy to their set these days. By half time, memories of Darius’s father’s classic, indelible album “Time Out” start to emerge, and legacy and heritage dictate where such an evening should end: with Darius first going through the delicate motions of clearing his conscience by asking a member of the audience to actually “request” “Take Five”, and then by playing it, building up to the point where a rip-roaring, rim-shotting energetic and extrovert drum solo from Wesley Gibbens ensues. Gibbens apparently has the unique distinction among the four of never having missed a quartet gig…. And from that point, there’s only one place to go – a unanimous standing ovation from the full house.

And yet it needs saying: there is so much more to Darius Brubeck than the memories his father and of Paul Desmond’s “Take Five”. At UKJN we marked his 75^th birthday – and his recovery from having been very seriously, frighteningly ill from Covid – back in 2022, and the birthday wishes we gathered from friends and colleagues show what a benign and broad influence he has had on the music.

Among the outpourings of affection in that piece, the first one – by a fluke of the alphabet – stands out. Chris Ballantine of the University of KwaZulu-Natal remembered that Darius “established the first degree-programme in jazz on the African continent, put jazz pedagogy on an entirely new footing, changed countless lives for the better, and helped launch the careers of many of the South African jazz performers now globally esteemed.”

Darius dedicated the concert and the second set in particular to the much-missed Martin Hummel, whose naming of his label as “Ubuntu” drew its main inspiration from Darius Brubeck. All the happiness of a twirling bass and a standing ovation serve as a reminder that life can and does also bring darker moments. A perspective which in itself gives a good reason to be celebrating the good times.

Read the article for more photos and a list of the pieces played.

Thursday, 20th November, Jazz Coventry

DBQ will play for Jazz Coventry, 8pm at the Albany Club, 10 Earlsdon Street, Earlsdon, Coventry CV5 6EG.

Saturday, 22nd November – Café Posk

The Darius Brubeck Quartet will play at Café Posk, 8pm (bar opens 7pm).

They will play their own chosen favourite tunes as well as numbers that audiences around the world have requested and enjoyed.

236 King Street
London W6 ORF
Tel: 0208 741 1940

Four Nights in Palermo November 27 – 30

Catch up with th Darius Brubeck Quartet at Real Teatro Santa Cecilia November 27 – 30. They will take part in the Brass In Jazz event of Musiche Del Nostro Tempo.

Monday, 15th December, Union Chapel

The Darius Brubeck Quartet performs Dave Brubeck’s Time Out and other “time signature” jazz.

A slice of musical history lands at the ethereal Union Chapel for one night only, as the legacy of jazz legend Dave Brubeck is celebrated by his eldest son, who continues in the time signature tradition.

The Darius Brubeck Quartet is also celebrating their 20 years of togetherness with two sets. The first set will feature Darius’ original music and the other his father’s greatest hits.

TIME OUTTAKES will be on sale. This is a one-off Brubeck Editions release that features alternative version of tunes like Take 5 and Blue Rondo. They were recorded in the same sessions as the very famous TIME OUT album.

Time Outtakes of the Dave Brubeck Quartet

19b Compton Terrace, London, N1 2UN
More details here

March 26 – May 3: Darius & Catherine Brubeck US tour

Film poster for Playing the Changes documentary

Screenings of Playing the Changes: Tracking Darius Brubeck, a film by Michiel ten Kleij loosely related to the book Playing the Changes: Jazz at an African University and on the Road co- authored by Darius & Catherine Brubeck.

The Brubecks will participate in Q&A sessions, give formal classes/lectures and Darius will perform with student and professional musicians.

Details of activities at each stop still to be confirmed.

Dates in 2025	Location
31 March	Wilton, Connecticut, Wilton Library
1-5 April	New York City: Jazz at Lincoln Center – postponed to 2026
7-8 April	Durham, North Carolina: Duke University
9 April	Atlanta, Georgia: Emory University, screening with Q&A https://news.emory.edu/
12-21 April	Chicago Break
21-26 April	Champagne Urbana, University of Illinois Residency
28-30 April	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania
23 April	MillerComm Lecture Series, USA, https://cas.illinois.edu/upcoming-events
24 April	Kranner Center Uncorked with Darius Brubeck, https://krannertcenter.com/