In the past two weeks, two icons of the music world, two icons from the opposite side of the music world, died.

I was privileged to see Dave Brubeck in a concert years ago with his son — “Two Generations of Brubeck.” Though his son is a fine musician and an excellent jazz musician at that, the crowd was waiting for the song that put the Brubeck Quartet to the top; Take Five. That quirky jazz number in the wrong meter (5 beats instead of 2 or 4) grew legs and the lay back cool style of Brubeck was born.

Across the world, India’s Ravi Shankar died this past Wednesday (12/12/12). Most Americans in the ‘60s knew what a sitar was after the Beatles went to India to spend time with their mentor. Sargent Pepper was born, concertos for the sitar and orchestra were being written and Ravi Shankar became a household name.

Though the music of Brubeck and Shankar are so different in many ways, they both had an easy style of playing and were pioneers in opening up the ears of a generation so eager to hear new sounds.