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Elisha Moncrief

Dr. Lee

MUSC 3333: Post-Romantic to the Present

27th November 2017

If you ask a jazz musician about what pieces shaped the jazz scene, they will likely

mention “Take Five” first recorded by the David Brubeck Quartet. The song appeared on their

album Time Out, released in 1959. The Album was the idea of David Brubeck. He wanted to

make and release an album that not only contained all original pieces but also one with

uncommon time signatures and rhythms. David Brubeck also wanted to include a painting on the

album cover, which would be a first for a jazz album. The song “Take Five,” as well as the rest

of the songs on the album Time Out, helped to reshape the jazz scene in both rhythm and

originality.

“Take Five,” as is suggested by the name, is in 5/4 time. This is unusual for jazz, the most

common time signature being 4/4. The piece was written to feature a drum solo by Joe Morello.

Joe Morello was accustomed to playing in 5/4 when he played drum solos during live

performances. He thought it would be a good idea to have an original piece written for the group

in 5/4.

The main two melodic ideas for the piece were originally written by Paul Desmond, the

saxophone player of the group. The ideas were then taken by Brubeck who put them together and

wrote the structure of the piece. Even though Brubeck put the ideas together he gave credit for
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the piece to Paul. Paul actually thought that the song would not be a success and joked that he

was going to use all of his share of the royalties to buy an electric razor.

David Brubeck’s ideas for rhythms came from many places, many of which are from

nature. David Brubeck worked on a ranch before being well known as a musician. During his

time on the ranch he was exposed to many sounds and rhythms. Some of his 5/4 rhythmic ideas

found in “Take Five” come from riding horses. His song “Strange Meadow Lark” uses rhythms

and notes that he recalls meadow larks using. In his song “Blue Rondo à la Turk” he uses

rhythms in 9/8 that he heard street musicians using. In “Kathy’s Waltz,” named after his

daughter Cathy, he emulates the rhythms that he saw Cathy using while dancing as a child.

Brubeck also recalls spending a night on the ranch and hearing the wind howling though the trees

and producing an interval of a diminished fifth.

Some of the other pieces on the album are also in unusual time signatures, use

nonconventional divisions of measures, regularly alternate between time signatures, or a

combination of these ideas. Some of the other time signatures used besides 5/4 are 4/4, 6/4, 3/4,

and 9/8. One example on the album Time Out is “Blue Rondo à la Turk.” This song is an

example of nonconventional divisions of the measure. The song is in 9/8, this would usually

have measures with 3 groupings of 3. Instead it has an unusual grouping of 3 groups of 2 and

then 1 group of 3. The piece then uses 3 measures of the unusual grouping followed by one of

the regular grouping. “Three to Get Ready,” also a song on the album Time Out, alternates

between time signatures. It switches between 2 measures of 4/4 and then has 2 measures 3/4

measures.
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The album was almost not allowed to exist. Both the idea of releasing an album of all

original compositions as well as using unusual time signatures and rhythms seemed too radical to

be a success to most people. Goddard Lieberson, the president of Columbia Records, was one of

the only people at Columbia Records who liked the idea. He like it because he thought that there

were already so many albums that only had cover songs. To help satisfy those who thought the

album would not be a success, the David Brubeck Quartet first released an album that contained

covers of popular songs.

The album and recordings were received different among different crowds. Miles Davis

criticized David Brubeck as not being able to swing. Brubeck was also not included in some jazz

textbooks or included on influentially jazz lists in the 1970s and early 1980s. The president of

Columbia Records, Goddard Lieberson, took a recoding of “Take Five” and “Blue Rondo à la

Turk” to some Columbia Records representatives on a trip he took to the west coast. The

representatives of Columbia Records that he showed the album to did not like it. Goddard

Lieberson also gave the records to some disc jockeys who played them. The recordings were

well received by the public when they heard them and the songs were often requested. Once the

sales people of Columbia realized the songs were popular they went ahead with recording the

album Time Out. The album was very well received among the public. It was the first jazz album

to have one million copies sold. The song “Take Five” was the first jazz single to sell one million

copies. The David Brubeck Quartet was also the bester seller of Columbia Records for 17

consecutive years. In 1954 Brubeck became the second jazz artist to appear on the cover of Time

Magazine.

David Brubeck has an interesting musical background. He was born on December 6th,

1920. When growing up he was not allowed to listen to the radio. This was because his mother
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thought that music should be played and not listen to on the radio. When he started to learn

music, he had a hard time reading sheet music because he was cross eyed, this resulted in him

learning music by ear. When he was 14 he started to play in public in such places as dance clubs.

He went to College of the Pacific where he studied music. After graduating he joined the army.

While in the army one of his superiors heard him play and put him in charge of a band that

played for the troops. After getting out of the army he studied at Mills College. One of his

instructors was Darius Milhaud. Milhaud taught his students to use fugues in jazz composition.

When Brubeck graduated and was composing music, he liked the challenge of using

counterpoint in jazz. Besides jazz Brubeck composted in other styles and for other types of

groups. Some of these include masses, choir and orchestra.

In 1951 the David Brubeck Quartet was formed. The group started out playing at colleges

around the country. In 1958, one year before Time Out was released, the group was sent bythe

State Department to India and the Middle East. This was an attempt to help ease tension during

the cold war. While on tour their recordings of “Take Five” and “Blue Rondo à la Turk” became

big hits in the States.

The David Brubeck Quartet went against the mainline jazz industry. He did not play

bebop like Dizzy Gillespie or Charlie Parker, instead he gravitated towards the styles of Duke

Ellington and Darius Mil-haun. His use of unusual time signatures and strange rhythms

influenced those who came after him. One example of a song in 5/4 that was probably influenced

by “Take Five” is the Mission Impossible theme song. It is likely that the album Time Out, with

the song “Take Five,” will be remembered by generations to come.

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Works Cited
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www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94979223.
Sarabia, Tony. “The Story Of Dave Brubeck's 'Take Five'.” NPR, NPR, 19 Nov. 2000,
www.npr.org/2000/11/19/1114201/take-five.
“Week 120: "Three To Get Ready" by Dave Brubeck.” Beautiful Song Of The Week, 22 Feb.
2015, www.beautifulsongoftheweek.com/three-to-get-ready-by-dave-brubeck/.
Lamb, Evelyn. “Uncommon Time: What Makes Dave Brubeck's Unorthodox Jazz Stylings So
Appealing?” Scientific American, 11 Dec. 2012,
www.scientificamerican.com/article/uncommon-time-dave-brubeck/.
Ratliff, Ben. “Dave Brubeck, Jazz Musician, Dies at 91.” The New York Times, The New York
Times, 5 Dec. 2012, www.nytimes.com/2012/12/06/arts/music/dave-brubeck-jazz-
musician-dies-at-91.html.
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Time-Out/Take-Five-Video-Library/FVV8p9Ww3SY/Detail.
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Time-Out/Time-Out-&-Take-Five-Facts.
Schudel, Matt. “Dave Brubeck, “Take Five,” and his longtime collaboratore who wrote the jazz
legend’s biggest hit.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 5 Dec. 2012,
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collaborator-credited-with-the-jazz-legends-biggest-hit/2012/12/05/6ae17f16-3f19-11e2-
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Salmon, John. “JOHN SALMON.” Dave Brubeck's Pioneering Explorations of Rhythm - The
Chronicles of Higher Ecuation, The Chronicles of Higher Ecuation, 10 Oct. 1997,
https://www-chronicle-com.ezproxy.lib.ou.edu/article/Dave-Brubecks-Pioneering/98338.