Do you still love “Take 5”?

I don’t know about you, but I love “Take 5″ and so does my wife. I first heard it in 1961 when I joined the watchmaking school in Cluses, France, no other than from the “N’H Quartet” our school’s jazz band where my school mate Jean-Marie Peyrin played the clarinet. This tune released in 1959 was a huge hit by any standard and was emblematic of the West Coast “cool jazz” sound at the time. 

Paul Desmond had composed one of the greatest alto sounds of all times that sounded quite differently from what came from the east coast in those days. West coast cool jazz was simpler harmonically and tempos were generally not as fast as hard bop. I might be generalizing, but Take Five encapsulated both the cool sound and attitude. 

There are better examples (Bud Shank, Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan) but this was just a fantastic recording. While, unfairly I think, Brubeck wasn't thought of in the same class as some of his peers, Desmond was a genius at using his sound and his use of strong melodic lines and space to develop interesting solos. 

The track was written after the Quartet's drummer, Joe Morello, requested a song in quintuple meter. For those like me who don’t know much about music, a quintuple meter refers to a time signature that contains five beats per measure. It can be either simple or compound, similar to other meters like duple, triple, and quadruple. Simple quintuple meter is most often written as 5/4 or 5/8, while compound quintuple meter is typically written as 15/8. 

Paul Desmond composed the melodies on Morello's rhythms while Brubeck arranged the song. The track's name is derived from its meter, and the injunction, "Take five", meant "Let’s take a break for five minutes". 

Now you’ll know everything next time you happen to hear and enjoy listening to that beautiful piece!