In 1954, jazz went to college.
That's thanks to music legend Dave Brubeck.
He was looking for a way to bring jazz to a wider audience, and decided on a North American tour of colleges and universities.
One of those schools was the University of Michigan.
The tour resulted in the album Jazz Goes to College, with five of its seven tracks recorded in Ann Arbor. Here's one of the tracks recorded on the campus of the University of Michgian, The Song is You:
http://youtu.be/bDQNgFU8IBc
Brubeck died Wednesday, just a day short of his 92nd birthday.
He is credited with bringing jazz to a younger audience at a time when its popularity was flagging.
“Take Five,” his quartet’s 1959 single, was the first jazz single to sell a million copies.
Brubeck returned to Michigan many times, including a 2006 performance at Hill Auditorium where he received a Distinguished Artist Award from the University Musical Society.
- Jordan Wyant, Michigan Radio Newsroom
