In the basement studio where Alan Dawson teaches, a concert poster shows Alan dressed in a tuxedo, looking stately on his throne, drumming with Dave Brubeck. Scrawled across the top is a note from Brubeck: “Alan—thanks for the great job at the concert, the newspaper review said, ‘Dawson was impeccable in dress as he was in playing!’ ” Alan chuckles when I point it out, but there is something telling in Brubeck’s playful words. Dawson’s presence truly does radiate a sense of dignity—a respect for the music he plays. The high standards of Dawson’s art remain more important to him than the commercial aspects. This was apparent when I asked Alan to recall his most memorable playing experience. Rather than citing a grand-scale concert at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center or Symphony Hall, he recalled a college gig when the muse smiled on the band. ” Yeah,” he reminisced, spreading his […]

May 1985 Issue