Dave Brubeck, Meter Made

Pianist-composer Dave Brubeck is renowned for his ventures into the world of rhythms and odd meters, exemplified by his 1961 mega-hit, “Take Five,” in 5/4 time. His interest in the subject goes back to his early teens, when his musical partner was . . . a horse.

Brubeck worked as a cowboy on the 45,000-acre ranch in Ione, in Central California, that his father managed. Bored with the job, he sang rhythms that countered his horse’s gait while he rode.

“If he walked, I’d sing another rhythm to that,” the Concord, Calif., native recalled. “If he trotted, I’d sing a different rhythm.”

Brubeck’s fascination with the world of rhythms and polyrhythms (where two or more rhythms exist simultaneously in a piece of music) was further sparked when he heard recordings of drummers made in the Belgian Congo (now Zaire) in 1946.

“I thought these polyrhythms were unbelievable, and I saw no reason why jazz musicians shouldn’t be playing them,” Brubeck said by phone from a hotel in Tulsa, Okla., where he was on tour.

By the late ‘40s, his bands regularly played in uncommon time signatures, and in 1959 Brubeck introduced nonstandard meters to wide audiences with the release of his now-classic “Time Out” album, which included “Take Five” and “Blue Rondo a la Turk.” (This period is explored in “It’s About Time,” a biography of Brubeck by Fred M. Hall newly published by the University of Arkansas Press.)

Brubeck plays Saturday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, working with his quartet in half of the concert, while in the other half his quartet will be joined by members of the Pacific Symphony. That portion will be conducted by Russell Gloyd.

Will those odd meters be included?

“You bet. I play them every night,” he said. “I have to at least play ‘Take Five,’ ” which was a collaborative composition effort between Brubeck, saxophonist Paul Desmond and drummer Joe Morello.

If there’s anything that grabs Brubeck more than rhythm, it’s melody, for which he has a unique gift--he knocked out his superb “In Your Own Sweet Way” in an hour in the early ‘50s.

“People have told me about how I seem to write one melody after another, but I’m really not aware of [that] at the time,” he said. “I’m just writing. I started when I was 4 or 5, and my mother would write things down that I played.”

Brubeck is the author of countless songs and several large-scale works. On the program at OCPAC will be a section from “Chromatic Fantasy,” his new string quartet based on J.S. Bach’s “Chromatic Fantasy,” which was recently recorded by England’s Brodsky String Quartet. And there’ll be a tune written for his granddaughter, titled simply “Sarah Bateson Brubeck.”

“It seems to be [one] that the guys like to play on,” said Brubeck, whose quartet at OCPAC will include saxophonist Bobby Militello, bassist Jack Six and drummer Randy Jones. “My first critics are always the guys in the group. If the group doesn’t like it, you won’t hear it.”

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Brubeck enjoys the concept of titling tunes around names, and on his latest Telarc album, “Young Lions & Old Tigers,” most of the numbers carry the names of the musicians who play on it, including saxophonists Jon Lovano, Michael Brecker and the late Gerry Mulligan.

Songs definitely come easier than the large-scale works, which are particularly challenging now that the 75-year-old musician has cataracts in both eyes. Yet the major pieces can be immensely rewarding. Take the performance this month of Brubeck’s mass, To Hope! A Celebration, which he and his quartet, along with an orchestra and an eight-congregation ecumenical choir, performed in Oklahoma City.

“The piece, which we had recorded live in Washington, D.C., took on a whole deeper meaning when we did it in Oklahoma City,” he said. “All of us had trouble keeping our emotions in check because there wasn’t one person in the orchestra or choir that hadn’t suffered a lot because of the bombing [of the Albert W. Murrah Federal building]. I could see people singing with tears rolling down their cheeks. I hate to admit it, but I cried too. I don’t like to, because I think it looks terrible on stage.”

Fame has long been Brubeck’s: His band won both the critics’ poll and readers’ poll in Down Beat magazine in 1953, and he appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1954. His recordings have sold in the millions. He’s received eight honorary doctorates, including one from his alma mater, the University of the Pacific in Stockton, as well as the National Medal of the Arts in 1994 and, last year, entrance into the Down Beat magazine Hall of Fame.

“I kind of hovered around until now,” he said. “Took a long time.” Then he laughed.

* Dave Brubeck performs Saturday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. 8 p.m. $22 to $40. (714) 556-2787.