Thursday 25 June 2009
Tune of the Day: Take Five
Jazz standard by Paul Desmond
This classic jazz piece was first recorded by The Dave Brubeck Quartet, and released on their 1959 album Time Out. It became the first million-selling jazz single on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1961, at a time when rock and roll was still in fashion.
“Take Five” became Brubeck’s best known and signature tune, although it was composed by Paul Desmond, the group's saxophonist. It became famous for its distinctive, catchy saxophone melody and use of the unusual quintuple time, from which its name is derived. While “Take Five” was not the first jazz composition to use this meter, it was the first of United States mainstream significance.