Take Five

Dave Brubeck (left) with composer Paul Desmond (1954, photo: Carl van Vechten )

Take Five is the title of a successful jazz -Musikstücks of Dave Brubeck - Quartet . It was recorded in 1959 by Paul Desmond for the album Time Out , released in the same year, at the CBS 30th Street Studio in New York City . Engineer of the extremely brilliant for its time - and already in Stereo produced - the album was from Munich native Fred Plaut . Only after it was released as a single in 1961 did it become an evergreen worldwide . The single is the best-selling jazz single of all time.

History of origin

Dave Brubeck and his quartet were sometimes a preference for odd time signatures developed and Take Five with his ⁵ / ₄ - or Blue Rondo A La Turk with a ⁹ / ₈ -Stroke are examples. In addition to the rhythm , the piece lives from the catchy melody of saxophonist Paul Desmond. When the album Time Out should, for which it was scheduled to appear, noticed Brubeck that Paul Desmond and the drummer of the Quartet, Joe Morello , during the breaks together in the ⁵ / ₄ improvised -Stroke. Brubeck then commissioned Desmond, to the next sample a piece in the ⁵ / ₄ to write ¯ clock. At the next rehearsal, Desmond said resignedly that he had two themes, but he simply had no idea for a piece. Brubeck suggested taking Desmond's second theme as the A part and his first as bridge , and that's how Take Five came about. The composition comprises 24 bars, is written in the ABA song form and is played at a moderate tempo with drive . It is also known to people who are otherwise hardly interested in jazz , and it has become a kind of signature tune for Brubeck. In the end, it was intended as a piece for a drum solo. The drum solo is also featured prominently in the middle section of the piece. Paul Desmond (alto saxophone), Dave Brubeck (piano), Gene Wright (bass) and Joe played in the recording sessions produced by Teo Macero on June 25, July 1 and August 18, 1959 at Columbia Studios (30th Street) in New York Morello (drums). Take Five was composed with Strange Meadowlark on July 1, 1959, with composer Desmond taking over the main melody-leading part.

Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take Five

According to a report from the Herald Tribune, Paul Desmond was inspired to write the piece by the sounds of one-armed bandits in Reno: “ It was the rhythm of the machine which influenced me, and I really only wrote the track to get the money back I lost that night . "The title of the piece received by the unusual especially for jazz songs ⁵ / ₄ -Stroke. The term takefive is in the jargon of American English as idiom for "a short break make" is used. Another connotation of the title is the slang term for a recording as a take . Take Five would have been the fifth attempt to record the piece; however, you really only needed two takes.

Publication and Success

The instrumental piece appeared in August 1960 with six other tracks on the LP Time Out , which climbed to number 2 on the US LP hit parade. It was not until August 1961 that Take Five was released as a single , which climbed to number 5 on the pop charts in Great Britain and was sold more than a million times worldwide. It was the first best-selling instrumental jazz record to date. The following year Carmen McRae (with Brubeck) sang a first version with a text that Brubeck had written with his wife Iola. The piece was recorded live on September 6, 1961 in New York's "Basin Street East".

When Desmond died in 1977, he bequeathed the rights to Take Five and all of his assets to the American Red Cross . On 15 April 2011 reported Desmond Noel executor Silverman that the royalties from Take Five would now amount to more than six million dollars.

Cover versions and advertising use

The piece has become the jazz standard and has been performed by various performers such as Monica Zetterlund , Chet Atkins , Augustus Pablo , Al Jarreau , George Benson , Helge Schneider , Quincy Jones , Grover Washington, Jr. , The Specials , Moe Koffman , Yo-Yo Ma , Nigel Kennedy , Marc Ribot ’s Ceramic Dog and Eric Singleton recorded. BMI lists 27 versions.

In the mid-1960s, the automobile company BMW produced a number of advertising films in Germany for its new 02 model, which were backed by a cover version of Take Five .

The beverage manufacturer Apollinaris used Take Five in its advertising for table water.

From 1981 to 1984, the radio program Radio Luxemburg (RTL) played Take Five Monday to Friday shortly after 5:00 p.m. (colloquially "at five") as the signature tune of its after-work magazine, which was also called "Take Five" (moderated by Viktor Worms , among others ) .