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.
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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.
The Red Clay Report 