Rest in peace Dave Brubeck, 6 December 1920 – 5 December 2012. You probably ignited my love of pianists in general, and jazz pianists in particular, many years ago. My Mother had a vinyl copy of Time Out, the beautiful cover was my introduction to modern art. It was as modern as our new home, furnished in the colours, fabrics and shapes of the Festival of Britain, a time of optimism after hardship. As for the music, Take Five was part of my childhood. It will always conjure up happy times and later I would come to appreciate the subtlety of his compositions like the one below. It was the benchmark from which I discovered the sublime in music. It was perceptively used in Tim Hunkin’s magical Secret Life of Machines and later became the music Radio 4 listeners would choose as best encapsulating “Radio Guardian“, how Guardian readers would describe themselves if they were a piece of music. I wish strength and peace to his widow Iola, theirs was a very long marriage. He leaves us a wonderful catalogue of beautiful music.

This is gentle and exquisite: