Brubeck Remembers WWII

Y’know, if it weren’t for a World War II U.S. Army colonel with an ear for good music, we might not have had pianist Dave Brubeck’s music to enjoy for all these years. Before he ever dropped a note for Fantasy or Columbia, he was entertaining the allied troops in World War II as the leader of the Wolf Pack band, a group Private Brubeck (pictured) formed after one of his higher-ups in the service heard him on piano and decided that Brubeck was more valuable manning the ivories than the front lines.

To commemorate Brubeck’s time in the service, as well as the 60th anniversary of D-Day, Telarc will release a collection of solo piano recordings by Brubeck on May 25. Titled Private Brubeck Remembers, the album features songs from the World War II period, including “When I Grow Too Old to Dream” and “You’d Be so Nice to Come Home To.” The album also includes two Brubeck compositions, “We Crossed the Rhine” and “Weep No More,” that the pianist wrote during the war.

Private Brubeck Remembers will also include a limited-edition interview CD. On the 52-minute disc, former CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite talks with Brubeck, who tells stories about his earliest years in music and, of course, the war.

Private Brubeck Remembers track list:

For All We Know

Oh Give Me Something to Remember You By

Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree (With Anyone Else but Me)

Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me

For You

Where or When

Lilly Marlene

It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie

When I Grow to Old to Dream

We Crossed the Rhine

Please Be Kind

Weep No More

The Last Time I Saw Paris

You’d Be so Nice to Come Home To

Originally Published March 22, 2004