Take Five (‘We Three Kings’ a la Brubeck)

“We Three Kings” in a straight-ahead jazz arrangement in 5/4 time, a la Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five.”
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Arranged and performed by Peter Shu.

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Take Five ( “Take Five” )

On this day 50 years ago, jazz pianist Dave Brubeck and his cohorts met in Columbia’s 30th Street Studios in New York City and began recording a tune written by the group’s saxophonist, Paul Desmond. Nothing especially dramatic about that. And the fact the tune in question was in a non-standard meter – quintuple or 5/4 time – was not altogether that earth-shattering, either. There had been other jazz compositions to use that time signature.

The recording of “Take Five” was released later in 1959 on the album “Time Out.” Columbia was excited about “Time Out,” but tentative about releasing it. The album contained all original compositions, almost none of which were in common time, hence the “Time Out” title. Still, these unusual time signatures (the album also included “Blue Rondo à la Turk” and “Pick Up Sticks”) struck a chord with the American public and it quickly went platinum. “Take Five” would become the first jazz single to sell a million copies and was still on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1961, a time when rock n’ roll – Roy Orbison, Del Shannon, Ricky Nelson, Chubby Checker, and of course, Elvis Presley – was dominating the American music scene.

Fast-forward 20 years to 1979. I was in sixth grade and had just bought my first turntable. I raised money by selling personalized Christmas cards door-to-door, and when I had earned enough, I went to Radio Shack, plunked down my $49.99 plus tax and became an official teen (although, I seem to remember getting the stereo in June, and I wouldn’t officially be 13 until October; that made it that much cooler… was only 12 and I was already a teen!).

I owned three albums at that time, only one that I had picked out and purchased myself: Steve Miller Band “Fly Like and Eagle.” The other two – the Bee Gees “Live” and Linda Ronstadt “Living in the U.S.A.” – were gifts from my parents and aunt, respectively. I locked myself in my room and played those three albums over and over and over again. As you can imagine, I soon tired of them.

So I started going though my dad’s records, trying them out to see it at some point in his past, he might have been cool. I passed on most of his stuff. Marty Robins and the Kingston Trio just didn’t do it for me. But I came across an album with a modern art painting (by Neil Fujita) on the cover: “Time Out” by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. I pulled out the disc and played it. “Take Five” came on. It was would be genesis of my love for jazz.

I had heard it on the radio, but never really paid much attention to it. But after I played that tune maybe a dozen times, I was hooked.

Eventually, I went to my dad to ask him about it. He said he had bought the album in 1960 and had seen Brubeck live in San Francisco. He explained what 5/4 time was – five beats to the measure – and he said he would bet that 90 percent of people who heard the song would never recognize the unusual meter. I felt like I was in on a secret. On of the cool set (those of you who knew me in 1979, or really, at any time in my life, I was definitely not cool… but a 12-year-old can dream, right?).

Over the last 30 years – the time I have been aware of “Take Five,” I have learned a lot more about music in general, and jazz in particular, I can trace my love for this music back to that summer.

So, on this, the 50th anniversary of “Take Five,” take a few minutes and listen to it again. You’ve heard it, even if you don’t recognize the title. I love those suits and skinny ties, and they looked cool despite those think-rimmed glasses! (Dave Brubeck piano, Paul Desmond saxophone, Eugene Wright bass and Joe Morello drums)

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Brubeck, now 89, is still playing and writing music, although at a much slower pace. And, although I have picked Dave as one of my 10 for the Rollo Lawson Not-Quite-Memorial Dead Pool, I really don’t wish him ill… or dead. Keep playing, Dave!

Useless Trivia Warning: When Paul Desmond died in 1977, he bequeathed the rights and royalties to his works — including “Take Five” — to the American Red Cross, which has earned the non-profit roughly $100,000 a year since.

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Everybody Into The Pool

I have just put in my picks for the 2009-2010 Rollo Lawson Not-Quite-Memorial Dead Pool.

OK, I know there are two takes on dead pools. The first, is when one is thoroughly mortified and disgusted that a group of otherwise moral and upstanding people would be morbid enough to pick 10 people they believe will die in the next 12 months.

The other take on dead pools is: “Cool, can I play?”

There are various rules for dead pools. These are ours:

• Pick 10 people, young or old, as points are calculated based on their age at the time of death subtracted from 100.
• On Oscar Night 2010, the DeadPooler with the most points wins.
• All picks should be people of some notoriety and are subject to review.
• Death Row inmates are not eligible for the death pool.

This is all played in jest, as you may be able to pick up on the jocularity by the pool’s official name: “Rollo Lawson Not-Quite-Memorial Dead Pool.” Rollo Lawson, as you will recall, is the character who is Lamont’s best friend on Sanford and Son. The actor who played Rollo – Nathaniel Taylor – showed up one year on a list as “that guy who played Rollo on Sanford and Son.” The pick was so far out of left field that the pool was forever named after him. And since Rollo, a.k.a. Mr. Taylor, is still alive and kicking, it can’t be a true memorial.

Anyway, all of that is neither here nor there. As I am being hounded by the Angel of Death – the pool’s administrator – to get my picks in, I will share with you my picks for the season. And I’ll have you know that RCR is a past champion, having won the inaugural dead pool back in 1998-1999 by scoring a “hit” with Boxcar Willie, the only pick to pass on that year.

The Red Clay Report’s Dead Pool
Picks for 2009-2010 – The Killer B’s

Baker	Bardot	Barker	Barris	Billingsly
Borgnine	Bradbury	Brown	Brubeck	Burgess

Ginger Baker – Cream drummer dies while choking on someone else’s vomit
Brigitte Bardot – Annoying French actress and animal-rights activist will be killed by feral cats
Bob Barker – Annoying American former game show host and animal-rights activist will be killed by feral game show contestants
Chuck Barris – Non-annoying American former game show host killed by an unknown comic
Barbara Billingsley – June on “Leave It to Beaver” finally joins Ward in that great ’50s suburbia in the sky
Ernest Borgnine – Will make an ugly, ugly corpse
Ray Bradbury – Will immediately come back to life
Helen Gurley Brown – Will then write “Death and the Single Girl”
Dave Brubeck – Takes an Extended Five
Bobby Burgess – Having had it up to here with that damn mouse, takes rat poison

So if you are interested, I’m sure the Angel of Death can find a couple of open slots in the game… leave a comment w/an e-mail address and I’ll forward it on…

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