09 Oct
400: Dave Brubeck Quartet release “Take Five”
The Dave Brubeck Quartet recorded and released “Take Five” on its 1959 album Time Out. Composed by Paul Desmond , the group’s saxophonist, it became famous for its distinctive, catchy saxophone melody and use of quintuple time, from which the piece got its name. It was also the first jazz recording to sell over a million copies, with an astonishing solo by jazz drummer Joe Morello. While Take Five was not the first jazz composition to use this meter, it was the first of United States mainstream significance, becoming a hit on the radio at a time when rock music was in fashion. The Quartet’s experimentation with time signatures unusual to jazz introduced millions of enthusiastic young listeners to unexplored regions of jazz.