The Brubeck Collection at Wilton Library Launches Digital Archive of Jazz Legend Dave Brubeck on International Jazz Day
photo: screenshot from brubeckcollection.org.
On April 30, 2024, The Brubeck Collection at the Wilton Library (Connecticut) launched its enhanced and interactive digital archive! Featuring over a thousand digitized photos, recordings, scores, and documents, the 22,000+ item collection catalog is easily searchable and browsable online to everyone worldwide for the first time.
This robust collection, established by Dave Brubeck and his wife, Iola, features unreleased music, interactive tour maps, photos, correspondence, concert programs, posters, and song timelines, from the biggest–selling jazz single of all time “Take Five” - which Dave Brubeck Quartet member Paul Desmond composed 65 years ago - to Brubeck’s achievements in the classical world with his prolific compositions which include oratorios, orchestral works, choral pieces, quartets, ballets, and chamber works.
Made available on International Jazz Day, this rich resource shares Brubeck’s legacy with musicians, students, researchers, jazz aficionados, and anyone curious about the artist’s broad cultural impact and many dimensions: from his music and family life to his involvement in the 1950s and 60s Civil Rights Movement and beyond. Jazz collections of a comparable scope include Duke Ellington’s at the Smithsonian, Ella Fitzgerald’s at the Library of Congress, and Benny Goodman’s at Yale University.
“Creating an online digital archive for The Brubeck Collection was an essential step in making its broad scope of materials accessible worldwide,” The Brubeck Collection Curator Michael Bellacosa said. “Dave Brubeck was an internationally renowned musical pioneer and we have been honored to steward his legacy, at Wilton Library and now everywhere. We hope people will enjoy visiting us online as well as in-person, where the full range of this large and important collection can be experienced.”
Check it out at: https://brubeckcollection.org.
About Wilton Library: For more than 128 years, Wilton Library has served as the cultural and intellectual center of Wilton, CT with the mission to inform, enrich, connect, and inspire our community. Home to The Brubeck Collection, one of the world’s premier jazz archives, the library is located at 137 Old Ridgefield Road in the heart of Wilton Center. www.wiltonlibrary.org.