MARILYN CORNWELL: rhythm

There's a famous American Jazz name. His 100th anniversary concert would have been 2020, but for us it was last night with his two sons The Brubeck Brothers. We were treated to a mixed media presentation with videos of the family and Dave Brubeck and his Quartet. It was a wonderful tribute to a great musician, cultural diplomat and human.

I hadn't remembered that he was a Pacific cowboy and that many of the rhythms he brought to his music were learned from the rhythms of horses' hoofs as they run.

"He recalled the rhythms he heard while working as a boy on cattle drives at the northern California ranch managed by his father. The first time he heard polyrhythms - the use of two rhythms at the same time - was on horseback.

"The gait was usually a fast walk, maybe a trot," he said. "And I would sing against that constant gait of the horse. ... There was nothing to do but think, and I'd improvise melodies and rhythms."

This was in one of the videos in which he demonstrated the horse rhythms on his chest.

Millie, our dog, seems to blocking everyone. Is it salt on their skin? She doesn't like my legs. Supposedly is releases endorphins and leaves them with a comforted feeling. Supposedly they do it as a sign of love.

Another site has this to say: Dogs may lick your legs to get your attention, communicate their feelings, gather information about you or where you’ve been, or simply because they taste something they like.

So we have a few curiosities today - the origins of Dave Brubeck's polyrhythms and dogs licking legs. Here's Millie looking up at light on the wall, another curiosity of dogs.