Take Five

"Take Five" is a jazz piece composed by Paul Desmond and performed by The Dave Brubeck Quartet on their 1959 album Time Out. Recorded at Columbia Records' 30th Street Studio in New York City on July 1, 1959,[1] fully two years later it became an unlikely hit and the biggest-selling jazz single ever.[2][3] Included in numerous movie and television soundtracks, it still receives significant radio play. "Take Five" was for several years during the early 1960s the theme music for the NBC Today program, the opening bars being played half a dozen times or more each day.

Written in the key of E-flat minor, it is known for its distinctive two-chord[4] piano vamp; catchy blues-scale saxophone melody; inventive, jolting drum solo;[5] and use of the unusual quintuple (5 4) time, from which its name is derived.[6]

Brubeck drew inspiration for this style of music during a U.S. State Department-sponsored tour of Eurasia, where he observed a group of Turkish street musicians performing a traditional folk song with supposedly Bulgarian influences that was played in 9 8 time (traditionally called "Bulgarian meter"), rarely used in Western music. After learning from native symphony musicians about the form, Brubeck was inspired to create an album that deviated from the usual 4 4 time of jazz and experimented with the exotic styles he had experienced abroad.[7]

Released as a single initially on September 21, 1959, the chart potential of "Take Five" was fulfilled only after its re-release in May 1961, reaching #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 9 that year and #5 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart three weeks later.[8] The single is a different recording than the LP version and omits most of the drum solo.[9]

The piece was also chosen to promote Columbia's ill-fated attempt to introduce 7" 33 1/3 RPM stereo singles into the marketplace, in 1959. Along with a unique stereo edit of "Blue Rondo à la Turk", it was pressed in very small numbers as part of a promotional set of records sent to DJs in late 1959.

"Take Five" was first played by The Dave Brubeck Quartet to a live audience at the Village Gate nightclub in New York City in 1959[exact date?]. Over the next 50 years it was re-recorded many times, and was often used by the group to close concerts: each member would in turn, upon completing his solo, stop playing and leave the stage à la Haydn's Farewell Symphony until only the drummer remained (as "Take Five" had been written to feature Joe Morello's mastery of 5 4 time).[10][11][12] Some of the many cover versions feature lyrics co-written by Dave Brubeck and his wife Iola, including a 1961 live recording sung by Carmen McRae backed by the Quartet. Al Jarreau performed an unusual scat version of the song in Germany in 1976.

Desmond, upon his death in 1977, left the rights to royalties for performances of his compositions, including "Take Five", to the American Red Cross,[13][14] which has since received combined royalties of approximately $100,000 per year.[15]

Personnel
Dave Brubeck – piano Paul Desmond – alto saxophone Eugene Wright – bass Joe Morello – drums

Cover versions
The piece has been a staple of jazz and pop music since it was first released. More than 40 cover versions have been recorded, as early as Carmen McRae's cover in 1961 on an album titled Take Five Live and as recently as 2016 by Moira Macdonald on the album Perhaps. Recordings have been released by artists known for playing jazz (Al Jarreau, George Benson), country (Chet Atkins), contemporary bluegrass (The String Cheese Incident) and pop (Stevie Wonder), as well as from artists in many different countries.