Playing the Changes - Tracking Darius Brubeck | Film Viewing and Discussion with Darius and Cathy Brubeck

April 7, 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm

Speaker(s): Darius and Cathy Brubeck

Playing the Changes - Tracking Darius Brubeck | Film Viewing and Discussion with Darius and Cathy Brubeck

April 7, 2025
4:00-5:30 PM
Rubenstein Library Carpenter Conference Room 249

Directed by Michiel ten Kleij, Playing the Changes asks just what political work can be done through music and especially jazz. The film charts Darius and Cathy Brubeck's transformational impact on the South African contemporary music scene between 1983 and 2004 as they set up the first jazz degree course in the country at the University of Kwazulu-Natal. A multicultural band calling themselves The Jazzanians grew out of the course in spite of the restrictions on racial mixing imposed by apartheid.

Please also join us on Tuesday, April 8 to continue the conversation with Darius and Cathy Brubeck

The Best of Times and the Worst of Times | A conversation with Darius and Cathy Brubeck

April 8, 2025
12:00-1:30 PM
Ahmadieh Family Lecture Hall
Smith FHI, Bay 4, C105

Darius and Catherine Brubeck reflect on running a jazz program at the University of Natal (Now Kwazulu-Natal), in the final years of apartheid.

Join us for a presentation and discussion on their book Playing the Changes: Jazz at an African University and on the Road (Univ. of Illinois. Jul. 2024).

Jazz "represents the living hope of a non-racial society and creative participation in an international culture".

Bios:
DARIUS BRUBECK is an American jazz pianist, bandleader, composer, broadcaster, educator, and former director of the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He is the son of legendary jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck.

CATHERINE BRUBECK, a South African, has worked in events organization, publishing, and artist management (specializing in jazz) in America, South Africa, and the UK. She was the Project Manager at the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music, initiating and organizing extra-curricular projects and events throughout Darius's term as director.