Howard Brubeck's career was largely in classical music, and he spent most of his professional years as a teacher and music department chairman. He is a Brubeck, however, and the association with his famous jazz pianist brother Dave Brubeck was more than just a matter of family ties. Howard Brubeck worked a great deal with his brother's music, one obvious highlight being the composition entitled "Dialogues for Jazz Combo and Symphony Orchestra," first performed in late 1959 at Carnegie Hall by a combination of the Dave Brubeck Quartet and the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Leonard Bernstein.