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Take Five
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Wikipedia article
"'Take Five'" is a jazz standard composed by saxophonist Paul Desmond and originally recorded by the Dave Brubeck Quartet for their album 'Time Out' at Columbia Records' 30th Street Studios in New York City on July 1, 1959. Two years later it became a surprise hit and the biggest-selling jazz single ever. Revived since in numerous movie and television soundtracks, the piece still receives significant radio airplay. The single was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1996.
Musical style
"Take Five" is known for its distinctive two-chord piano/bass vamp; catchy, cool-jazz saxophone melodies; inventive, jolting drum solo; and unorthodox quintuple time, from which Dave Brubeck derived its name.
Helped by native symphony musicians, the classically-trained Brubeck had recently enhanced his knowledge of more complex forms of music during the Quartet's U.S. State Department-sponsored tour of Eurasia in the spring of 1958. The odyssey inspired him to create an experimental album that diverged from the usual or time of jazz by adapting the intricate meters he had encountered abroad.
Composing, arranging and recording
Following a repeated request to Brubeck from the Quartet's drummer Joe Morello for a new piece to showcase his facility with time, Desmond unwittingly "lucked out ... like keno" when Brubeck delegated his saxophonist to contribute a composition in that meter to the 'Time Out' album, using Morello's rhythm. Desmond delivered two melodies, which Brubeck arranged in ternary form.
Recording "Take Five" proved so arduous for the Quartet that, after 40 minutes and more than 20 failed attempts, producer Teo Macero suspended the first effort during the 'Time Out' recording session of June 25, 1959 because one or another of the members kept losing the beat. They finally cut the single and the album track at the next session on July 1.
Structure
"Take Five" is written in the key of E minor, in ternary (ABA) form and in time. Rhythmically, the five beats to the bar are split unevenly into 3 + 2 quarter notes; that is, the main accents (and chord changes) are on the first and fourth beats. The album version has ten sections:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Section !!Description
|-
|Intro|| Drum enters, joined by piano after 4 bars and bass after 8 bars to set up rhythm with syncopated two-chord (EmBm7) vamp
|-
|AA|| Alto sax plays main melody (A), based on E-minor hexatonic blues scale, in two similar 4-bar phrases
|-
|BB|| Alto sax plays bridge melody (B), based on G-major scale, in two similar 4-bar phrases
|-
|AA|| Reprise
|-
|Solo 1|| Alto sax plays improvised modal solo, based on E-minor hexatonic blues scale, over vamp
|-
|Solo 2|| Drum fades in playing improvised solo, halfway through which the vamp abruptly crescendoes before fading down to near-silence as solo ends
|-
|AA|| Reprise, cued by intro vamp played softly before alto sax swiftly rejoins with main melody
|-
|BB|| Reprise
|-
|AA|| Reprise
|-
|Tag|| Alto sax plays repeated 4-note riffs from main melody, ending with final note sustained for 3 bars over vamp
|}
Release and chart success
Although released as a promotional single on September 21, 1959, "Take Five" fulfilled its chart potential only when reissued for radio play and jukebox use in May 1961, that year reaching No. 25 on the 'Billboard' Hot 100 (October 9), No. 5 on 'Billboard's Easy Listening chart (October 23) and No. 6 on the UK 'Record Retailer' chart (November 16). In 1962, it peaked at No. 8 both in the New Zealand 'Lever Hit Parade' (January 11) and the Dutch Single Top 100 (February 17). The single is a different recording from the LP version and omits most of the drum solo. It became the first jazz single to surpass a million in sales, reaching two million by the time Brubeck disbanded his 'classic' quartet in December 1967.
Columbia Records quickly enlisted "Take Five" in their doomed launch of the -rpm stereo single in the marketplace. Together with a unique stereo edit of "Blue Rondo la Turk", they pressed the full album version in small numbers for a promotional six-pack of singles sent to DJs in late 1959.
News of Brubeck's death on December 5, 2012 rekindled the popularity of "Take Five" across Europe, the single debuting in the Austrian Top 40 at No. 73 (December 14) and the French Singles Chart at No. 48 (December 15) while re-entering the Dutch charts at No. 50 (December 15).
Performances
The Dave Brubeck Quartet first played "Take Five" for a live audience at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 5, 1959. Over the next 50 years the group re-recorded it many times, and typically used it to close concerts: each member, upon completing his solo, would leave the stage as in Haydn's Farewell Symphony until only the drummer remained ("Take Five" having been composed to feature Morello's mastery of time).
Personnel
* Dave Brubeck piano
* Paul Desmond alto saxophone
* Gene Wright upright bass
* Joe Morello drums
Cover versions
The piece has been a staple of jazz and pop music since it was released, and has been covered many times, in a variety of genres. The first known cover was by Carmen McRae on the 1961 live album 'Take Five Live', supported by Brubeck, Gene Wright and Morello. For the recording, McRae sang lyrics written by Brubeck's wife Iola; these lyrics would later be used for other vocal recordings.
Jamaican saxophonist Val Bennett covered the song in 1968 in a roots reggae style, in time, and retitled "The Russians Are Coming".Thompson, Dave (2002) 'Reggae & Caribbean Music', Backbeat Books, , p. 392 Bennett's version became the theme of British television series 'The Secret Life of Machines' in the late 1980s. Al Jarreau recorded an acclaimed scat version of the song for NDR Television in Hamburg, West Germany on October 17, 1975. Moe Koffman recorded a cover for his 1996 album 'Devils Brew'. In 2011, a version by Pakistan's Sachal Studios Orchestra won widespread acclaim and charted highly on American and British jazz charts.
Other legacy
Desmond wrote and recorded the similar-sounding (and similarly-named) composition "Take Ten" for his 1963 solo album 'Take Ten'; he released another rendition of "Take Ten" on his 1973 album 'Skylark'.
Upon his death from lung cancer in 1977, Desmond left the performance royalties for his compositions, including "Take Five", to the American Red Cross, which has since received payments averaging well over $100,000 a year.
Notes
References
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