Jazz Legend Dave Brubeck Celebrates His 90th Today

Last year, Dave Brubeck­’s jazz stan­dard, Take Five, turned 50 years old. (Watch his 1961 per­for­mance above.) And, today, the artist cel­e­brates his 90th birth­day. Through­out his 80s, Brubeck con­tin­ued to per­form across the US  (we have him play­ing Take Five at the Mon­tre­al Jazz Fes­ti­val just last year) and onward he plans to go — although his tour­ing was recent­ly halt­ed by pace­mak­er surgery. To com­mem­o­rate his birth­day, Turn­er Clas­sic Movies will pre­miere tonight In His Own Sweet Way, a doc­u­men­tary revis­it­ing Brubeck­’s life and music. And NPR’s Fresh Air has re-aired a 1999 inter­view where (in addi­tion to his music) Brubeck talks about his ear­ly days on a Cal­i­for­nia cat­tle ranch, and his first love: rodeo rop­ing. The con­ver­sa­tion runs 34 min­utes. You can lis­ten right here.