Videos
Take Five – previously unreleased takes from the original 1959 sessions.
In honor of the pianist’s centennial, Brubeck Editions will issue Time OutTakes, an album featuring alternate versions of iconic 1959 tracks.
“Take Five,” a 1959 track by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, was always a musical oddity: a swinging, instantly catchy jazz piece written in the uncommon time signature of 5/4. But it was also a huge hit and the first platinum-selling single in jazz history.
On the alternate version, you can hear how the band is still acclimating to the feel of the piece’s 5/4 rhythm. They play the tune faster than on the familiar take and drummer Joe Morello hadn’t yet settled into the famously relaxed beat that made the five-beat structure feel so natural.