Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
1.6 AS91095
Choose three elements that you think are the most important and/
or interesting from Dave Brubeck Quartets Take Five, and rank
them in order of importance. Name each element and explain why
you have chosen the element for this work.
Give as much detail as you can and make links between the music
elements and features and the effect they have on Take Five.
These elements are ranked from top to bottom.
by Adam Nachowitz
pitch over the next two bars, and then this whole sequence is
repeated a second time. The purpose of this sequence in this cool
jazz piece is to create a simple and memorable theme that is
instilled into the listener.
Rhythm In my opinion, rhythm is also essential to the piece,
adding to and developing the melody, or head. Take Five uses a
swung rhythm which provides a propulsive rhythmic "feel" or
groove". This feel is achieved through the use of syncopation,
which places the notes on offbeats. This means that the notes are
displaced, so that the strong beats become the weak beats, and
the weak beats become the strong beats. Syncopation was used
quite extensively throughout the score, but a few examples are
highlighted below. Syncopation has a large impact on this piece,
giving the song its cool jazz feel. This song is also characterized by
its unusual five-four meter, meaning it has five beats in every
measure, which gives the song its off-balance feel, and adversely
causes the even passages to sound uneven and syncopated.
Dynamics In Joe Morellos drum solo, he exercises a huge amount
of control over his dynamics, which allows the piece to be further
developed and provide contrast from its other sections. Morello
varies the dynamics by using different drum techniques. He uses
the toms to produce loud percussion sounds, and the hi-hat/crash
using the end of his stick to hit the rim for quiet percussion
sounds. Desmond, on the saxophone, also varies the dynamics, as
shown in the sections below. This highlighted section is an
example of a part played in forte,
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by Adam Nachowitz
by Adam Nachowitz
Task 2: Context
You are writing a feature article for The Dummies Guide to Jazz about
"Take Five" written by Paul Desmond, and performed by Dave Brubeck
Quartet.
In this article, you need to cover:
The importance of Dave Brubeck and his musical influence over the
conception and creation of Take Five.
Other compositions by Dave Brubeck
The style and genre of Take Five
The reason it was written
Why you think this piece is often performed.
You opinion of Take Five
Try to use at least one quote from the performers and composer (Paul
Desmond , Joe Morello, Dave Brubeck, Eugene Wright), and one quote
from someone else about the work / or the Quartet.
Present this task as a written article with at least one relevant
illustration and score extract (approximately 500 words).
Before Take Five was written, Joe Morello, the drummer of the Dave
Brubeck Quartet, was often featured by Dave for drum solos. Joe
Morello commented that "we'd close a concert with that [a drum
solo] because we'd get 'em standing and screaming and all of that.
So I would go into five-four [time], and that's how that all
started. (National Public Radio, 2000). Morello was interested in
creating a piece entirely in five-four, and continued to ask Brubeck
to write a piece in five-four time, so finally Desmond said, I'll write
something, which is how Take Five came into existence. Brubeck
was also interested in creating a piece in an usual time signature.
While on a trip to Turkey, he came across a group of Turkish street
musicians, who were a playing a traditional folk song in nine-eight
time. After this event, Brubeck was inspired to create a work that
deviated from the typical four-four time signature of jazz music.
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by Adam Nachowitz
Ta ke F i ve w a s n eve r
anticipated to be a hit, and even Brubeck and Morello say they
can't pinpoint what it is about "Take Five" that made it the biggestselling jazz single ever. Brubeck guesses it was the catchy
repeated vamp, and Morello says the whole thing just clicked with
listeners. "It just worked," Brubeck said. (National Public Radio,
2000). Music writer Chris May attributes the success of Take Five
to Drummer Joe Morello: Take Five includes one of the most
thrilling drum solos ever recorded. He makes particular mention
of the solos percussive accentuation, colorization and
structure (All About Jazz, 2011).
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by Adam Nachowitz
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by Adam Nachowitz
References
Canter, A ndrea. Take Time Out for Dave Brubeck.
Jazzpolice.com, 2008, www.jazzpolice.com/content/view/
7210/115/.
Davebrubeck.com, 2016, http://www.davebrubeck.com/about.php.
Kaplan, Fred M. 1959. 1st ed., Hoboken, NJ, J. Wiley & Sons, 2009.
May, Chris. "Dave Brubeck Quartet: Time Out". All About Jazz, 2011,
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/dave-brubeck-quartet-time-outdave-brubeck-by-chris-may.php.
Sarabia, Tony. "The Story Of Dave Brubeck's 'Take Five'". NPR.org,
2000, http://www.npr.org/2000/11/19/1114201/take-five.
Schudel, Matt. "Dave Brubeck, Take Five, And His Longtime
Collaboratore Who Wrote The Jazz LegendS Biggest Hit".
Washington Post, 2012, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/
ar ts-post/post/dave-brubeck-take-five-and-his-longtimecollaborator-credited-with-the-jazz-legends-biggest-hit/
2012/12/05/6ae17f16-3f19-11e2-bca3-aadc9b7e29c5_blog.html?
utm_term=.6e6680329f4d.
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by Adam Nachowitz