The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Take Five | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 25^th edition of Throwback Vibez (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Take Five” by The Dave Brubeck Quartet.

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 25^th edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Take Five”, performed by The Dave Brubeck Quartet. 

The most common meter in music is… common time, aka 4/4.  Simply put, the beats are grouped in sets of four: 1-2-3-4.  The prevalence of common time applies to jazz music too.  However, The Dave Brubeck Quartet went against the grain throughout the multiplatinum, innovative 1959 masterpiece, Time Out.  The time – rather, the time signatures – are all over the map.  That’s part of the charm and brilliance of the historically important LP.  Focusing on the third track from the cool jazz tour de force, “Take Five”, the key word in the title is five. This Paul Desmond composition is set in 5/4 meter, giving it a distinct, asymmetric feel.  Desmond, who also played alto saxophone in the quartet, penned one of the greatest jazz songs of all time.

“Take Five” is best experienced through listening rather than analysis. That said, the musicianship is top-notch, yielding many incredible, influential talking points. Dave Brubeck provides marvelous a phenomenal harmonic foundation in this record, set in E-flat minor (!). He also plays a pivotal role in maintaining the timing.  The heavy load falls on Joe Morello who sets the asymmetric groove given the meter.  He’s the first instrumentalist heard on “Take Five.” He does a magnificent job, also delivering stellar riffs and runs, delivering a once in a lifetime, colorful drum feature/solo. Eugene Wright precedes Desmond’s lead, providing the foundation on bass, focused on tonic and dominant.  During Morello’s feature, alongside Brubeck, Wright’s bass playing provides a solid anchor ⚓️.  “Take Five” is ICONIC.

🎙 The Dave Brubeck Quartet • 💿 Time Out • 🏷 Blue Note • 🗓 1959

The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Take Five: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 25 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Blue Note; OpenClipart-Vectors, Speedy McVroom via Pixabay]