I had the honor of playing backup to Dave Brubeck three times during my student years at University of the Pacific (Dave's alma mater). While the commercial album was a masterpiece, he could launch into these amazing solos when live. Learned so much about how music fit together from those experiences! I'm thrilled you've dipped your toe into this particular pool.
Totally experienced his wild, energizing solos when the quartet played a special concert in Ann Arbor, MI, in the early 70's. My Dad's albums were cool, but the music in person took me to a whole other place. I was like 10 feet away, 3rd row, and despite being a rock-addled teen I was RIVETED.
I had a band that did take five, and coming out of the drum solo, we went into a little bit if the Mission Impossible theme song. Also in 5/4. It always got cheers.
I give em' some quarter, but not much. At the age of seven (me), not everybody's father turned them on to Satchmo, Anita O'Day, Roy Elldrige, Gene Krupa, and Roland Kirk simultaneously by 1962. Teach your people how to swing eighth notes, for starters.
Glad yer now hip to this classic. Released in '59 on the Dave Brubeck Quartet album Time Out, written by alto sax legend Paul Desmond, Joe Morello on drums (iconic solo), Gene Wright on hypnotic bass groove. This has a permanent place in the pantheon of jazz history. It's only been part of my fabric for 40 years or so but I suspect it'll be forever. Thanks D-Nick, for listening and sharing like only you do.
Dave Brubeck is listed on our national historic registry. When I was an 18 yr old headbanger and heard this song it BLEW ME AWAY, as a drummer I was so impressed with Joe Morello. These guys are all legends. I'm glad I got to see Brubeck perform years ago.
You moved me to tears, or that is you and the music moved me to tears. To see a youngster like you absorbing and understanding this music!!! So fine. I savored this entire presentation. (I watched Dave (piano) and the boys (his best band, these three guys) when they first came on over here in the East Bay/Concord and loved him all through the years while so many of my music people ignored him, weren't down at all with him....I never thought there was something wrong with me!! because you know what you know. I treasure that you also recognize and shared that this is some might fine jazz.) If you want to marvel some more, look for him in his later years over in Russia with an orchestra but !!! still jazz all the way. He was awesome and we still have his music. ps Paul Desmond is widely recognized as unique. No other sax player could touch him. And Joe Morello on drums!! Hallowed by all. Not to forget the inimitable Gene Wright. Eugene. Some say the bass makes all the difference to a band. xoxoox I FOUND IT/ It's a Celebration Mass in Russia, very mature, also a masterpiece.
Thanks for the reaction dude. It's always gratifying to see the younger set appreciate good music. My Dad went to North Texas State University in Denton in the early 1960s, which was/is(?) one of the top jazz schools in the country. He met my mother there in a Spanish class in like 1962. A few years ago he was telling me about going to jazz concerts while they were going to college. My dad said "Me and your mama have been backstage after a Dave Brubeck concert at North Texas." 😲!!! I said "WHAT!!! You never told me that! Those dudes are LEGENDS!!!" I've been bragging on this one ever since... 🤤 My Mom and Dad were both Beatniks... my Dad even had bongo drums. I'm proud to say that they both marched for Civil Rights in North Texas, at a time and a place when doing that was taking your life in your hands. Both of my parents passed away last year, my Mom went first at 78, then my Dad a month later at age 80. I miss 'em like crazy... 😭 I'd like to see a reaction to a classic from the same era, the song that launched a whole genre of music, Bossa Nova (New Trend), "The Girl from Ipanema." Be sure to listen to the original version starring Joao and Astrud Gilberto with Jobim and de Moraes, 1962. Have a good evening
Great story and GREAT parents. I grew up listening to jazz that my dad listened to on a jazz only F.M. station from the early 60's in L.A. Hated it as a kid, but I always loved this song. Appreciate jazz now thanks to him. 👍❤🤙
Thank you for sharing this beautiful family story. I’m so sorry for the loss of your parents. You honor them in this retelling. They sound incredibly cool.
@@proteusaugustus Yes. He is a sax player. And yes Paul Desmond composed it. He went on to have his own jazz band. Dave wanted truly talented people in his group, his team. They played a lot of campus gigs including in the south. Gene Wright as the bass player and being black Dave was asked to replace him by the PTB's. He would cancel the performance and put the word out on Why. These were sold out concerts! The students would get 😠 And they would call him back and tell him Gene could play but in the back of everyone else. Dave would say after the first number, "Gene, there's a problem with your mike. You have to move in closer!" Dave's wife, Iola was his manager. I believe they were married for seventy years.
@@proteusaugustus haha having the nerve to say someone is wrong without checking your facts... Paul Desmond is the composer, everyone that's interested in jazz knows that. Do you know that even drummers compose music?
Take Five was one of the few Brubeck numbers not written by Brubeck. It was written by the sax player, Paul Desmond. My favorite Brubeck album is “Adventures in Time”. Try to find it, though it might only be available on vinyl…
I love your reaction to this wonderful music. It gives me hope for the younger generation keeping great music alive. Thank you for your enthusiasm and respect for the music.
Grew up with this playing on the radio. The 5/4 rhythm was like a swaying cobra - so hypnotic. They often featured on American television in the early 60's or on European (particularly French and German) and British shows when they toured.
Jazz is complex enough on it's own, but the fact that everything they're doing is kept in the challenging 5/4 time signature is master in the stratosphere!
No more challenging than playing in 4/4. This tune is in fact a school band staple. I'm not saying that to disparage the great playing here, but the actual arrangement isn't that complex or that hard to learn even for a relative novice. The challenging part is in the performance & improvisation, the beautiful lyrical tone Paul Desmond can produce etc
True, but they are not playing the original arrangement. The high school band arrangement was done in the mid-1970’s, and it was significantly simplified.
This was from the "Time Out" album where he experimented with different time signatures, this one being 5/4 time. It was one of four albums released in 1959 that are now credited with having a massive influence on jazz. The others being Miles Davis with "A Kind of Blue", Ornette Coleman with "The shape of jazz to come" and Charles Mingus with "Ah Um". That was quite a special year.
As a jazz musician it’s hard to imagine a musical person having never heard this song before because it’s like a brick in the foundation of modern jazz. The album ‘Time Out’ was a creative adventure into a world music/jazz mash-up focusing on odd time signatures, this one being in 5/4 - hence the title ‘Take Five’ (actually written by Paul Desmond the sax player). I love live recordings, but still think I prefer the original studio version. Your innocent, unprepared response to this classic is priceless!
A Super Famous song and Big Hit that is still played on Jazz and Standard Classics radio everyday some 60+ years later !!! Recorded the year I was born 1959' the Drum sol is so Great !!! : D
One of THE classic jazz compositions of all time, done entirely in 5/4 time, which is what gives it is unique groove. It still sounds fresh and exciting all these years later.
Masterpiece. Wish it was longer. Wow that drum solo stands up to John Bonham (Led Zeppelin). And shout out to Dave for putting his name last on the credits, shows he respects his band
Agree so much about Brubeck. I saw them in Central Park (late 60s, I'm guessing, with Gerry Mulligan guesting), and Brubeck did a fantastic piano solo, and then, as the audience reacted, rather than take any sort of bow himself, he immediately threw it to Morello for the drum solo. As you say, it was all about the band, not him.
One of the finest jazz quartets ever put together. Take Five was recorded in '58 or '59. I suggest you follow this up with Dave's version of Rondo a la Turk. Always good to see someone getting an intro to Brubeck's exceptional jazz. Cheers....
I sure am glad you picked the live video. This was awesome actually getting to see the players. I've heard this a million times but never seen the group before!
Joe Morello, 1928-2011. Drummer Joe Morello, the longtime drummer with the Dave Brubeck Quartet, has died. Raised in Springfield, Mass. with impaired vision from birth, Morello eventually found his way to New York City, where he played with many leading jazz musicians.Mar 12, 2011
The "Time Out" Album came out in 59 and was the first jazz album with entire album of Odd time signatures! This tune here, was a Paul Desmond composition.....Brubeck himself, said it was a trip to Turkey that gave him and Desmond the idea of odd times. He said most of the music over there was in odd times, and people were dancing as if it was in the normal 4/4 or even 3/4 time signatures. The drummer Joe Morello is one of the most MUSICAL Drummers....EVER!!!
You took me back to Sunday mornings with dad listening to Brubeck, Charlie Parker, Bilie Holliday, Basie, Oscar Peterson and more, dragging mum in from the kitchen to dance with him. Happy days.
Ok, so I saw these guys live in Washington D.C. in 1962. I was a junior in H.S. After that afternoon concert, my brain was altered. It was like a window was opened and I could hear sounds for the first time. Obviously a huge jazz fan ever since.🎹🎷🎶🎶🎶🎶
That master piece was Dave Brubeck's biggest hit, I believe!! What is interesting about this piece of music is this was played on the "Rock N Roll" stations and was really popular when it came out, at least in Seattle it was played on those stations.
That "Masterpiece" as you called it, was the moment that Jazz changed. The entire album "Time Out" was the first Jazz album to sell 1M copies, and the single "Take Five" the first single to top 1M in sales. Time Out reached No. 2 on Billboard's Pop Album chart. I grew up hearing this at home, along with Herbie Mann, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis and John Coltrane as well as Bach, Mozart & Bartok. Check out the other albums of the (Time trio), Time in and Time Further Out!
In 1981, I was able to get tickets to see Dave Brubeck at Tanglewood (in Western Massachusetts) , also performing was Nancy Wilson. It was a great outdoor concert, I walked to the bathroom and as I walked out from our section, I was sitting right next to Hugh Downes. When the show started, they announced a new performer, from a musical family, and we would be seeing much of this fellow in the future. The warm up act was Wynton Marsalis. No one had heard of him yet, and everyone was talking about him, until Dave started up. One musical memory I am thrilled to share with you.
In the late 80's this was on the juke box in my college bar. Very unusual but am glad it was. Must have heard it multiple times every time I was in there.
Perhaps followed by the Dave Brubeck* version of Golden Brown: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2Qs1J612nZs.html&ab_channel=LaurenceMason
Whenever I hear the song it's almost like I have a memory of days gone by... A smokey jazz bar downstairs in the middle of Manhattan in Chicago in the 19 40s..
Time Out is one of my favorite albums. It was recorded live in the studio (no overdubs) with just four AKG C-12 tube mics. Wanna find out how good your system and your listening skills are? Play the original recording (not the live recording shown here) and see if you can spot the moment that two different takes were spliced together. I'll give you a hint: Listen for the sound of a cymbal ring-out to change abruptly. It's a good edit, especially considering it was done with a razor blade on analog tape, so it's not easy to find.
I was fortunate to see this group in about 1957 in a live outdoor concert in Kansas City. Stood right in front of the stage, and was enthralled by the rhythm and the sax. Nobody else in my crown knew anything about jazz or blues, most of our music was emerging rock n' rol on AM radio and 45 records I'd heard this piece on FM radio and went to the gig specifically hoping they'd play this classic. I crank it up on RU-vid about once a year. Still one of my favorites!
Dude! You made my night. Watching you have the same moment that I experienced 35 years ago, on the night that I first heard the studio recording of this, was a real treat.
Wish i could tell my Brubeck story. Short version i snuck into his show at the brown theater in louisville ky got front row balcony, was 17 it changed my life. Coolest cat that ever lived
Nice to see your appreciation of this; you'll find the entire album "Time Out" and its sequel "Time Farther Out" a real wonderland. I bought both albums about 60 years ago, still have them, still love them. Time Out was the first jazz album to sell a million copies.
Saw Brubeck with different musicians in Guadalajara, Mexico back in 1974. It was a great show, the crowd favorite was the harmonica player he had with him that called himself Madcat.
When I was in college I had was in a dance class and we danced an improvised dance to this! I have always loved Dave Brubeck's Take Five! Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
Thanks Nick! Many years and too long since I last heard this classic piece, and what a great video. I'm sure it's Dave on the piano, keeping an eye on them all!
I grew up hearing jazz..it was always too busy for me.then along came blues and rock and roll..i was hooked..and i also used to listen to a LOT of old Motown..ahh great music days.
I'm so happy to see young people discovering the genius of Dave Brubeck. Not only was he a great musician and composer, but he was a real gentleman & all-around sweet guy, in my opinion. My son & I went to one of his concerts years ago and his son Christopher let us backstage to visit with him in his dressing room. His wife was there too. She was a beautiful and gracious lady. It was a most memorable evening!
It certainly is, truly a masterpiece, and deservidly recognized as such. I saw Brubeck in a tiny castle in Germany, in a small room, maybe 50 people sitting on folding chairs, an unforgetable experience.
This Dave Brubeck Quartet performance is from 1959 "TAKE FIVE" is a jazz standard composed by saxophonist Paul Desmond and originally recorded by the Brubeck Quartet fromthe albumofthe same name. Mr. Brubeck (12/6/1920-12/52012) , Mr. Desmond (11/25/1924-5/30/1977).
This was great! I wish I could go back and hear “Take Five” again for the first time and be blown away again like you were. I saw Brubeck live three times throughout the 80s.
The one and only jazz tune which took me years to learn on drums....and now I know! Thanks man, for playing my favourite drum solo of all time...5/8 forever!!!
One of my favorite songs ever! Whole album is a top ten. Big influence on Donald Fagan, of Steely Dan, as I understand it. Brubeck’s mother was a concert pianist, and his father was a bonafide cowboy!