Summer Concerts 2026
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
Report from Buxton Jazz Weekender 2026
Phil Johnson reviews The Darius Brubeck Quartet’s performance Buxton for UK Jazz News. Read the full review which starts with the sets that preceded The DBQ, or read on below.
Johnson writes:
The evening’s third and final show was a triumphant performance by the Darius Brubeck Quartet, playing their familiar repertoire of Dave Brubeck classics and Darius’s own compositions. I have seen and even booked the band many times before, and I stayed for a very enjoyable hour before – apology – ducking out to watch the second half of the football. What sometimes gets lost in assessing the Darius Brubeck legacy, which is sizeable in itself, and the legacy of his father, which is massive, and foundational to modern jazz, is just what an incredible quartet of musicians this has become. There’s a longevity very unusual in any jazz band, with the same personnel for what must be fifteen years or so, since I first saw them perform.
Dave O’Higgins has always been one of the best saxophonists around, and he was masterful tonight, excelling on his essential solos in the Paul Desmond role (adapted for tenor sax), as well as in a featured spot of material from his own new recordings. Matt Ridley on double bass and Wesley Gibbens on drums are no longer the young tyros from of their early years in the band, but their roles have expanded considerably, and there’s now great freedom in what they choose to contribute. As the frontman, Darius Brubeck continues to combine incisive and heavily percussive pianism with charming introductions to each song. At one point he recalled his one previous visit to Buxton in the winter of 2010 when a mid-gig blizzard left both band and meagre Opera House audience stranded for the night in an adjacent hotel.
The group opened with the classic ‘Blue Rondo a la Turk’, followed by the beautiful Dave Brubeck standard ‘In Your Own Sweet Way’. They then progressed through a number of Darius originals including a dedication to his new great-granddaughter, and a lovely Township Jazz-style number composed by the great South African saxophonist Zim Ngqawana, who Darius had taught. There was also what Darius described as “a mash-up” of Stevie Wonder and J.S. Bach, before the Dave O’Higgins solo feature and my anxious exit, which meant I missed ‘Take Five’.
Film date at Provence Arts Festival du Film
Provence Arts Festival du Film will be showing Playing the Changes, the film that charts Darius and Cathy Brubeck’s transformational impact on the South African contemporary music scene as they set up the first jazz degree course in the country at the University of Kwazulu-Natal.
The screening will take place on 1st August at 3pm local time, in the Salle Polyvalente de Ménerbes.
More about Playing the Changes – the film
Thursday, 4th June Menuhin Hall
The Darius Brubeck Quartet will play at the Menuhin Hall in Cobham, Surrey (UK) at 7.30pm.
Friday, 5th June: The Lighthouse, Poole
The DBQ will play at The Lighthouse in Poole, Dorset (UK) starting 7.45pm
Saturday, 6th June: Rhosygilwen, Wales
The DBQ will play at Rhosygilwen in Pembrokeshire, Wales (UK) from 7.30pm
Rhosygilwen, Cilgerran, Pembrokeshire SA43 2TW
Friday, 10th June: St George’s Bristol
The Darius Brubeck Quartet will play St Georges’s Bristol (UK) at 8pm
Great George Street (off Park Street), Bristol, BS1 5RR
“Brubeck, whilst committed to his father’s legacy, is a sophisticated artistic presence in his own right. His quartet bring a deep musical rapport to their material, playing a mix of original compositions and classic standards. Playful, adventurous, refined – a special evening of jazz.”
Pre-event food and drink available.
Saturday, 11th July: Buxton International Festival
The DBQ will appear at Buxton International Jazz Festival as part of the ‘Jazz Weekender’, on 11th July’ late night slot – doors open at 9.30pm.
Venue: Jazz at The Palace (Hotel). Buxton is in the Peak District (UK).
Dave Brubeck tribute concert, Sunday May 17
Sunday Afternoon Jazz in the Ballroom presents a “once in a lifetime” chance to hear the entire Time Out live. The concert will also be live-streamed.
Darius Brubeck will team up with saxophonist Tom Scott and drummer Joe LaBarbera to recreate Dave Brubeck’s band for this exceptional one-off event.
Sunday, May 17, 2.00 – 4.00 PDT in the Centennial Ballroom at Los Angeles Atheletics Club.
Purchase tickets for in-person attendance or live-stream at Jazz Salon.
Let Freedom Swing album release
On Let Freedom Swing, the latest release from Blue Engine Records, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis celebrates the charismatic leaders who gave voice to the struggle for freedom. Originally recorded live during a 2004 concert, the album features six stunning, sprawling musical commissions that paint a backdrop for inspirational oratory on liberty by Václav Havel, Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Desmond Tutu.
Delivering these leaders’ inspirational words are modern icons including Rev. Calvin O. Butts III, Patricia Clarkson, Glenn Close, Keith David, Morgan Freeman, Mario Van Peebles, and Alfre Woodard. The original commissions themselves were composed by a masterful array of jazz composers: Toshiko Akiyoshi, Darin Atwater, Darius Brubeck, Billy Childs, Jimmy Heath, Zim Ngqawana, and Emil Viklicky.
Let Freedom Swing is a stirring statement of purpose on behalf of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s ongoing JazzCall for Freedom campaign, which also includes the JLCO’s recently released record We the People. Both albums encourage listeners to stand up for unity and civil liberties during this crucial moment in our nation’s history. So, answer the call and immerse yourself in Let Freedom Swing, a record that will restore your faith in democracy and remind you of jazz’s power to reanimate our nobler sentiments.
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
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 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 75th 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.
19b Compton Terrace, London, N1 2UN
More details here
Playing The Changes film dates 2024-25
The Darius Brubeck Quartet will appear ‘live’ in conjunction with this showing of a documentary film about Catherine and Darius Brubeck’s years in South Africa which is now showing at Film Festivals around the world. The film charts the couple’s transformational impact on the South African contemporary music scene as they set up the first jazz degree course in the country at the University of Kwazulu-Natal.
See the Film page for promotional videos, trailers and stills.
| Festival / Location | Date | Website |
| Jazz Film Festival, Wageningen, The Netherlands | November 2 | https://jazzfilmfestival.nl/ |
| Festival Internacional de Cine de Autor, Guadelajara, Mexico | November 21-24 | https://www.ficautor.com/ |
| Saint Augustine Film Festival, Florida, USA | January 10th, 2025 | https://capstone.hope.ac.uk/jazzfestival/ |
| Liverpool Jazz Festival film screening + Q&A | February 21st, 2025 | https://capstone.hope.ac.uk/jazzfestival/ |
| MillerComm Lecture Series, USA | April 23rd, 2025 | https://cas.illinois.edu/upcoming-events |
January 12th, 2025 – Camden Jazz Café
The Darius Brubeck Quartet will play Take Five and Dave Brubeck’s other inventive ‘time signature’ hits. In the South African half, the Quartet will be joined by two special guests: acclaimed trumpeter Byron Wallen, and original Jazzanian guitarist Andrew Eagle.
A slice of musical history lands at our venue for one night only, as the legacy of jazz legend Dave Brubeck is celebrated by his eldest son. Join us as we celebrate jazz history from two continents.
Line up
- Darius Brubeck – Piano
- Dave O’Higgins – Sax
- Matt Ridley – Bass
- Wesley Gibbens – Drums
- + Special Guests:
- Byron Wallen – Trumpet
- Andrew Eagle – Guitar
20-21 February 2025, Liverpool International Jazz Festival
The Darius Brubeck Quartet will play at the Liverpool International Jazz Festival on 20th February. The festival will give a screening of the film Playing the Changes on February 21st.
More information on both these events, the concert and the film
March 26 – May 3: Darius & Catherine Brubeck US tour
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/ |
Return to England 3rd May.